Digital Morons 2,0
by GetALife117
Summary: "And there I was, thinking, my life hit rock bottom on August first 1999. You know, stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, in another dimension. Surrounded by deadly monsters and a bunch of morons. Of all the times, I could have been wrong about something... so sad." - Koushirō "Izzy" Izumi - And with that, welcome to my crude parody/rewrite of Digimon Adventure 02.
1. Crap, We're getting Rookies

-x-

**Prologue**

**Which Anniversary?**

On the island of Odaiba, at noon on the first of August, three teenagers made their way to the Fuji-TV building. Walking along the river, was a tall, fifteen-year-old boy with nearly shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes and a grumpy face, followed by two younger kids, both three years younger than him. The first was another boy closely resembling him, down to the color of his eyes and hair, albeit more bustling and cut short. The last was a young girl with auburn colored eyes and brown hair, just long enough to frame her face, and a hair clip, keeping her bangs from obscuring her eyes. She also wore a digital camera on a cord around her neck, as she did for almost two years at this point.

The three were part of a group of eight kids, called the DigiDestined, a collection of chosen children, who, one day at summer camp, were washed away by an enormous tidal wave, only to wake up on a remote island – in an alternate universe called the Digital World. At least seven of them were. The young, auburn eyed girl, named Hikari Yagami, had to stay home, due to a cold, which spared her from the traumatic event - along with many others, befalling her future team-mates. Kari and the two boys, walking with her that day, the older boy Yamato "Matt" Ishida and his brother Takeru Takaishi (called TK for short), had one thing in common though: They were chosen to save the Digital World from the dark forces, threatening to destroy it. And subsequently the human world, too. All of them were paired with each one creature native to the Digital World, known as Digimon (which stands for digital monsters), who were born to fight the children's battles. These loyal companions by their side, they set out for their mission. The DigiDestined were meant to overcome, whatever the (digital) world threw at them. Together. Which would work occasionally, until their chemistry (or lack thereof) would drive them apart. Far, far apart, more often than not...

"So, where is your brother?" Matt asked Kari casually, referring to Taichi Yagami, the former leader of the group.

The girl sighed.

"Taking a nap." She said quietly.

"Again?"

"What do you mean 'again'? He wasn't up since yesterday to begin with." Kari answered somewhat dismissively, "Besides, you guys know it's his lazy season!"

"Wait, I thought winter was his lazy season" TK said confused.

"No, that's his sleepy season" Kari explained patiently, "There's less soccer training in winter, so he gets to _sleep_ more. Easy to remember."

TK shot a puzzled glance at her.

"Look, he has his system and he gets iffy, if anyone criticizes it. He is very defensive about it."

"Yeah, because his systems always turned out to be the very best things, to happen to our group!" Matt muttered.

"First off: His systems are designed to help him schedule his sleeping patterns – he never intended them to help the group in any way!" Kari snapped at him.

"What a leader!" Matt said sarcastically.

"Second off: _You voted for him as the leader!_"

"Whatever" Matt huffed, "You weren't there..."

Kari ignored this comment and went ahead:

"Third off: Why don't you call Gabumon, go back to our apartment and try to murder Tai again? It's been a while! And what better way is there, to celebrate our anniversary, than you trying to beat my brother to death again?"

"Wait, I thought we were meeting up for Odaiba-Day!" TK said confused.

"_He was sleeping under a tree, while Sora almost got hammered to death by Puppetmon._" Matt hissed impatiently.

"_So?_ He always slept on the job! Get over it! Joe tried to screw us over, every time he saw an opportunity to make a profit out of it!" Kari fired back, "Don't act like my brother was a spoiled brat in a bunch of saints! Oh, and don't tell me you attacked him for the greater good! What was that story again? About the magical tree, only you could see and speak to?"

"I keep telling you: Cherrymon was real!" Matt said, perplexed that she still didn't believe him, "How hard is it to believe, that there are trees in the Digital World who can speak?"

"Then how come, we never saw a single talking tree?"

"I don't know, because not all of them are sentient?"

"Okay, so why did no one except you ever see _that_ talking tree?"

"Because Puppetmon killed him before I had a chance to introduce him to you!"

"_Right_… Just keep telling yourself that. Oh, and can you see Tai's reflection in the river right now? Or do you need your imaginary tree friend for that, as well?"

"Shut up"

"So speaking of the gang" TK tried to steer the conversation away from his brothers growing insanity, "What are the others up to? Is anyone else coming?"

"Let's see" Matt started reflectively, "Mimi is still in the U.S. and surprisingly they didn't deport her, yet. So my guess is: She's not coming."

"That's what we thought last time, too" TK reminded him grim.

"Scratch that. _I have high hopes_ she's not coming."

"I talked to Sora on the phone" Kari went on, "but she hung up, as soon as I dropped Tai's name."

"He didn't even come along! Why would you mention him?"

"He said he would catch up later!" Kari explained, "Kept mumbling something about needing some more time, to reset his sleeping pattern..."

"Still, what did you expect?" Matt snorted, "He interrupted Sora while she was hitting on Mimi last year, and pretty much ruined it for her – so naturally she hates him now and forever. Why didn't you just say the team wants to meet up?"

"I know, I know…" Kari grumbled, "Well, Izzy is coming. That's… something…"

"Yeah, because surely he is there to meet up with us" Matt replied snarky.

"So, what about Joe?" TK asked.

"He's probably off sucking somebodies blood" Kari muttered.

"What is your deal with Joe?" Matt said incredulously, "Why do you always wonder about him?"

"He is the only one left!" TK countered angry, "Also he saved my live once, remember?"

"He dragged you out of the river, because he knew you had your milk money on you." Matt said, "He'd rather die than watching a single coin getting wasted!"

"Well, maybe that was part of it but -"

"No, that's it."

"You don't know that!"

"He never cared about any of us." Matt said, "Why would you be the exception?"

"Shut up!" TK yelled at his brother, "Just because nobody cares for _you,_ doesn't mean they don't care about me, either!"

"People care about me..." Matt muttered grumpy, turning his face away from them.

"Oh, really? Who? Mom, Dad and I don't count!"

Matt remained silent.

"Wow, not even your imaginary tree?" Kari asked with a soft giggle.

Matt flipped her off without even looking at her.

They kept on walking, silent for another few minutes. When they had almost reached the TV-Station TK started speaking again.

"Can you imagine, it's been almost five years already?"

"You mean _four_ years" Kari corrected him.

"_No, _I mean five years!"

"TK it was at the end of last year when the crew split up... again"

"Yeah, because _that's_ the big takeaway from that day - "

"Can we not - go into detail, about that, TK?" Kari said shuddering, "I still have night terrors, sometimes... anyway, we met Wizardmon again, the summer prior to this. And that was our _third_ anniversary. The third. Not the fourth, the third."

"No, no I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the summer of 2000 when we got sucked into –"

"_2000?!_" Kari and Matt called out simultaneously, stopping and turning to look at him in disbelief.

"Wait..." TK said startled, "Shit, no... let me think!"

"Man, you look really confused, right now." Matt said, frowning.

"Fine!" TK said gritting his teeth, "It was '99... four years ago! Are we done now?"

And with that, they walked on.

"Told you so" Kari said quickly.

"_Whatever!_" TK hissed, "You weren't there!"

"I joined you like – two days later!"

"It's been half a year for _us!_"

They came across Izzy sitting on a bench facing the TV-Station. He was a skinny, pale fourteen-year-old with dark gray eyes and scraggly red hair. He had his laptop on and candy bar in the one hand that wasn't typing.

"How come, you never gain an ounce of weight, when you're eating this junk night and day?"

"Nice to see you too, Matt" Izzy replied without looking up, "Also, do you really want me to get started on genes and how sugar facilitates ones intellectual capacity?"

"I was just having small talk" Matt sighed.

"So, what are you up to Izzy?" Kari asked rather kindly.

Izzy gave her puzzled look.

"Aren't we all supposed to meet up here for – what was it - Odaiba-Day?" he answered.

"_For our anniversary!" _Kari said annoyed, "Also how did you know? You wrote an e-mail to all of us, that you were heading out here, to collect some data… or something. I thought about telling you about the meet up, but I figured since you are already here…"

"_Right_… sure you did. I've been monitoring all of the group's messaging traffic, for nearly a year now. In fact, I knew before you hit the send button."

TK sighed in frustration.

"See?" he said to his brother "What did I tell you? We couldn't possible exclude him, even if we tried!"

"And you would be foolish, in doing so." Izzy said calmly, "But I forgive you. It's not like I'm the only one, getting mobbed out of the team, anyway."

"Doesn't mobbing mean something like a group of people teaming up to insult and exclude a single person?" Kari asked, raising an eyebrow.

Surprised Izzy looked up to her.

"You are absolutely right! This term doesn't fit the situation at all!"

"So what's the data you're collecting?"

"Since our last and – technically first encounter, of a rather paranormal kind…"

"Why would you even ask him something like this?" Matt asked Kari annoyed, "Remember how long this went on, the last time you asked him, what a single line on the screen of his laptop meant?"

"I'm sorry, okay? I thought he might have gotten a little more... _straight-to-the-point_ by now" Kari answered over Izzy's still ongoing monologue.

"You are so naive!"

"Says the guy, who voted for my brother as our leader!"

"Everyone had the same idea! That wasn't my fault! I still don't get why people like him. He is such a lazy asshole!"

"Maybe it's because you are the bigger asshole, so they chose the lesser evil"

"At least _I_ would have gotten shit done!"

"Seriously, Matt?" TK intervened, "Is this, how you're doing things now? If Tai isn't around you just fight the next available Yagami?"

"No, that's not true at all!"

"Didn't you get into an argument with Tai and Kari's mom at the grocery store last week?"

"She was talking about making fries in the oven instead of the deep fryer! _Who does that?_"

There was a moment of awkward silence until they realized that Izzy had stopped talking and was now indignantly glaring at them.

"I'm sorry Izzy" Kari said, chuckling nervously, "what was that?"

"Long story short" Izzy sighed, "Wizardmon showed up here, last year, so I figured, I could gather some data about him or the other digital ghosts, doomed to haunt this world, until the end of days, because we mercilessly killed them. I think, I might be able to use that data to my advantage somehow."

"Well, at least that explains Phantomon." TK muttered more to himself than anyone else, but Izzy heard him:

"What, _now_ you're wondering about the reasons behind that?"

"I mean, uh..." he trailed off, but then he continued confused: "But they are just ghosts. How could you benefit from that?"

"Well, for starters, me being able, to prove the existence of ghosts, even if they are just digital ones, would probably help me, gaining the attention of the national science community, at least. My intellect would then do rest; ensuring me a quick rise in the world of science, to the point when my influence alone will be the foundation for my future success."

"Wow, you really thought this through, didn't you?" Matt said shaking his head in disbelief, "You and Joe should launch a league of super-villains while you're at it..."

"Nah" Izzy huffed dismissive, "He is in for the money. Me? I'm in for the power. He can have his big mansion, they call money. But after a few years, as it collapses around him, guess who's gonna laugh at him, while watching from the old stone building, that is power, which will undoubtedly last for centuries!"

"I'm getting a little uncomfortable right now…" Kari said, crossing her arms before her chest.

"I know" Izzy said now paying even closer attention to whatever his laptop was displaying, "It looks like Wizardmon or one of the others, are trying to materialize themselves. It's only natural to get uneasy about that."

"That's not what I meant..." Kari said quietly.

A dark cloud began to form in front of them. Growing a first, then rapidly shrinking into the shape of a short man with gray skin, wearing a pointy wizards hat, a tattered cloak and patched clothing. The figure had a staff in his hand, with the top part resembling a sun.

"Look at that, it _is_ Wizardmon" Izzy said mildly surprised, "Well, that worked perfectly."

"Oh, uh... good to see you, my friends" Wizardmon said somewhat startled, "Uh, I... didn't actually plan to show myself right now, to be honest... That's weird..."

"Oh, yeah actually I did that" Izzy explained, "I've been looking at everything we learned about you ghosts, so far and I used that knowledge to get you to materialize once you were in our general proximity."

"You _baited_ him into materializing?" TK asked baffled, "But how -"

"_TK!_" Matt cut in sternly.

"- is it possible, that I didn't see this coming?" he finished his sentence robotic, "Seeing how much of a genius you are, as we all know..."

"I'm flattered..." Izzy said dry.

"So, uh..." Wizardmon said awkwardly, "Gatomon isn't with you, huh?"

"Nope." Kari said crossing her arms, "Damn tragedy, I know!"

"Yeah, if you couldn't tell already, our team is in great shape" Izzy said.

"Well, I don't wanna be rude and it was nice seeing you all..." Wizardmon said, "But I really didn't plan on this, so if you guys have anything to discuss, that's okay... but otherwise..."

"You got anymore prophecies for us?" TK asked.

"Well, I've..." Wizardmon started, obviously not enjoying to be put on the spot like that, "I've heard something about an infection, a few years down the road..."

The four kids looked at him eagerly.

"That's it. That's all I know."

"You suck" TK said.

"I died for you guys!"

"You died for _Gatomon_." Kari corrected him.

"But I knew it would also trigger your crest. I even told you, what feelings to focus on, so it would actually work!"

"Oh, _that's_ what you were doing!" Kari realized, "I figured those were some weird last words..."

"Well, you died as you lived" TK said, "Giving us important information and/or prophecies – man, I'm really sorry... now that I think about it like that, you really don't suck."

"Pretty much" Izzy said, "Wizardmon, if I find a way to resurrect you, can we have you as our support instead of Gennai? I mean, honestly, everyone would be a step up from him, but having Mr. Exposition instead would be like winning the lottery, in return for killing a retarded coworker."

"I..." Wizardmon said, taken aback by Izzys analogy, "I guess so... Can't see why not. Anything else, you wanna talk about?"

"Well, I don't have anything" TK shrugged, "What about you guys?"

"Nope" Matt and Kari said in unison.

"In that case, nice seeing you again" Wizardmon said, waving them goodbye – before freezing.

"What?" he said perplexed, "Why can't I -"

"I figured, you would try that" Izzy said calm, "Look, I'm sorry, it had to come to this, but I got a lot of data to collect from you and I needed to make sure you wouldn't just disappear in the middle of it, so -"

"_You fucking trapped him, dude?_" TK asked half laughing.

"Essentially"

"One could really say" a voice behind TK chimed in, "He didn't stand a _ghost of a chance, _he he."

"_God dammit, Phantomon!_" TK barked.

"Hey, couldn't you have used him for your experiment, instead of – well, luring me into a trap?" Wizardmon said, now somewhat annoyed about this turn of events.

"That's a legitimate question" Izzy nodded, "Let's just say this: I would have, if _somebody_ told me, he was here!"

"I didn't know!" TK defended himself, "He showed up less and less lately, I thought he was... I don't know – _fading_ or something! Also we just talked about him! Why didn't you ask me? Most of the time, I'm the only one who can see him, anyways!"

"Ugh, fine!" Izzy said, "You know what Wizardmon? I'm sorry, but I wouldn't have used him over you. Because contrary to you, he never delivered even a fragment of a prophecy. I was hoping that I would get you, because frankly, you are the most interesting subject around."

"Now _I_ am flattered" Wizardmon said, almost as dry as Izzy before him, but not quite.

The ghost sighed.

"So, how long do I have to stay?"

"Oh, not that long" Izzy said, "It should only take until... let's see... sunset, I think."

"Izzy, it's 1 p.m." Matt said, "And it's August."

"Well, it's not like he's running out of time, right Wizardmon?"

"_Uh huh..._" Wizardmon groaned, having thrown his head back and slouched his shoulders.

"So..." TK started awkwardly, "Since we have some time to kill, what have you been up to, lately, Wizardmon?"

"Not much..." Wizardmon said, "Afterlife isn't as eventful as some people make it out to be..."

He sighed again.

"What about you guys? I saw, you got some new team-mates."

"Well, not anymore..." Izzy said, "But sure, that story should be enough, to keep us entertained until the process is done."

"_Right!_" TK huffed, "Buckle up, Wizardmon! I'm sure we gonna need eight hours for this one."

* * *

**Chapter One**

**Crap. We're getting rookies**

"Well, so much for the meet up." TK said annoyed and sat back in his chair. It was roughly thirteen months before Izzy's ghost experiment. The eight DigiDestined had planned to meet in the computer lab of their school. Kari's brother Tai had initiated the appointment, surprisingly, considering he was usually the one to point out a problem, while Izzy would organize everything, to deal with it. TK and Kari made it, as well. But that was about it.

Despite his general laziness Tai was in very good shape, which was mostly due to his soccer training. He was tanned and had brown eyes and equally brown, voluminous, chaotic hair, standing off his head giving it an unexpected easily recognizable shape. Around his neck he wore a pair of goggles, an item that had become a signature feature of his.

"Yeah, this is crap." Tai said out louder than expected, probably in order to prevent himself from dozing off, "How come, we never get the band together?"

"Well, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with your crappy leadership…" TK muttered sarcastically.

"Or your constant whining and complaining." Tai answered grumpy.

"Shut up" TK said gritting his teeth, "You know I'm past that!"

"Past the whining" Tai agreed, nodding, "Not past the complaining. Seriously not even your brother is here! At least my sibling had the decency to join us!"

"You do realize, he most likely didn't come because he hates you to death, right?"

Tai silently glared at him for a few seconds - then he shrugged.

"Yeah, touché…"

"Okay, so what's the deal?" Kari asked rather impatiently. She had been checking her watch for the past twenty minutes.

"Not yet!" Tai growled, "I am not in the mood to tell this story more then once! So we will wait until everyone's here and -"

"Tai, I'm sorry, but nobody else is coming!" Kari said insistently, "We have a life, too. Please, tell us what is going on!"

"We need more people to deal with this problem anyway!"

"So what's the plan _then?_"

"_Wait_"

"For what?"

"Okay, I have a plan B in case the others won't show up." Tai said.

"They didn't show up" Kari said quickly, "Tell us!"

"Right soooo"

"You are so lucky, I actually care to help you." an disembodied voice said calmly, "And thus we actually _have_ a plan B"

"Izzy, is that you?" Tai said confused and looked around in the room.

The voice sighed.

"No, it's the other smart guy who likes to help you", he said sarcastically.

"Gennai?"

"Pft – good one!", Izzy huffed, "Shut up and listen! I got you some -"

"_Where are you?"_ Kari asked extremely confused.

"Turn on the monitor of the only running PC in the lab" Izzy said moderately annoyed, but by Kari interrupting him and not the fact, that everyone surrounding him was consistently clueless. He got used to that years ago.

After a quick search, the trio turned on the monitor of the Computer closest to them. On the screen, there was an open window displaying Izzy in his room – in astonishing one to three frames per second.

"How can you hear us?" Kari asked in awe.

"I bought small microphone and taped it under the desk. It's quite cheap but it should do the trick. I can hear you clear... -ish. Just – don't talk over each other... While we're on the topic, I hid a webcam in the locked drawer of the desk. Key's in the teacher's desk. Just plug it in, the cable is already connected to the PC, I can do the rest from here."

TK walked over to the teachers desk.

"In the meantime -" Izzy said but Tai cut him off.

"Hang on" he said in a mix of disbelief and wonder, "Did you turn on that PC remotely from your home?"

"Don't be ridiculous" Izzy answered dismissively, "I hacked into it and prevented it from turning off. But it appears, someone turned off the screen manually, so there's that."

"Well, good thing they didn't turn off the speakers as well or otherwise you would have had a problem." TK pointed out smirking, after he plugged in the webcam.

"Not at all." Izzy argued seemingly surprised about this assumption, "I could have easily called you or send you a text. You are still underestimating the powers of technology, aren't you? Haven't you learned anything from our time in the Digital World?"

"It's okay, I get the point" TK said eyes rolling.

"Splendid. Now listen -"

"One more thing"

"_TK, I swear, if you interrupt me again..._" Izzy hissed

"I'm sorry! But why are you pulling this Back-to-the-Future-II-crap instead of just, you know, _dropping by the school_? Seriously this is way too much effort just to talk to us."

"It isn't for me..." Izzy muttered, "Well, first off: _Back-to-the-future-II-crap?_ These aren't the eighty's anymore. And don't act like you were even alive back then. Also, do you expect me to work with this prehistoric – let's call it 'technology' for fun – the school has to offer and get anything done in less than two years? _Also, _I like to work with you people remotely, that way I'm able to mute you whenever I want. I suppose, I don't have to explain to you how that wouldn't work, if you were right next to me!"

After a short pause, following Izzy's rant, Kari spoke out:

"He's got a point there"

"Let's not go down that rabbit hole" Izzy replied, "If we were to count every point I get during our conversations, we would be here for at least another three hours."

"So, while we're on the topic, _tell them what's our plan B_" Tai said winking, signaling him to play along.

"Excuse me? Our _plan B?_" Izzy said, clearly offended.

"Yes" Tai winked again, nodding, "Our plan B. Come on man tell them, we've been here for like... _hours!_"

"Oh, _now _you're hustling!" Kari muttered.

Izzy silently stared at Tai for a solid ten seconds, almost making the other three believe, his program had crashed.

"That's it" he said, sounding like a man who just gave up, "This is the last time, I'm letting you, Taichi Yagami, take credit for my work!"

"Wait a sec!" Tai protested, "I didn't take credit that often!"

"Before today, you did it twice!" Izzy said cold, "And I can tell you precisely when and how!"

"Yeah... no it's okay I can see that"

"So, now everyone, I've decided" Izzy continued, "this is the last time I am going to help you, as long as he is the leader!"

"Really? That's all it took?" Tai said raising an eyebrow, "Three times of me stealing your ideas, is enough to make you wanna stop working with us?"

"Since you put it like this – yes! I think three times is _way_ more than enough!"

"Fine! Tell us _your _plan B then"

"You think this is going to change my mind?"

"Am I the only one thinking, it's a tad too early, to talk about plan B, when we don't even know what plan A was?" TK argued, arms crossed.

"You might think that" Izzy said, "Until you realize, that plan A was operating with the full crew."

"Okay, my bad" TK said, "What I meant was: What is the mission and why does plan A always suck?"

"That's fair" Tai said.

"Izzy, _please! _Just tell us!" Kari begged.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but _no interruptions_ this time around!"

The trio nodded eagerly, except for Taichi, who nodded normally (which, on the other hand, could be considered eagerly, in his case).

"So basically, I got you backup."

"Backup? - Oh!" Tai said confused, but then quickly raising his hand, as Izzy furious glare hit him.

Izzy sighed.

"Yes, Tai?"

"Soooo... you got us the military?"

"What is wrong with you?"

"It's a legit question!"

"I am thirteen! How am I supposed to make the military support us?!"

"I don't know – because you helped saving the world and stuff?"

"Right, as if anyone remembers that!" Izzy said sarcastically, "No, I got you kids, who are bound to be DigiDestined at some point."

"Rookies?" TK moaned, "Are you serious?"

"What do you mean _other DigiDestined_?" Tai said incredulously, "There are no other DigiDestined. There's eight: us!"

"Also, if they are future DigiDestined, how did you find them in the first place?" Kari asked.

"I... I had help, okay?" Izzy said begrudgingly.

"Wait, _you _needed help for something?" TK said chuckling, "Isn't that, like, a sign of the apocalypse or something?"

Tai fist-bumped TK.

"I cannot track down DigiDestined, you should know that! Otherwise, I would have tracked down Kari, the minute we learned about the eighth DigiDestined! I would need data, which is out of my reach, for that task!"

"So who helped you?" Tai asked.

Izzy sighed again

"Gennai... yeah, yeah! Laugh it up!"

Tai exchanged looks with TK and Kari.

"Seems legit, to me"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, Gennai always helped us out" TK added shrugging, "Why would we laugh?"

"Oh, where do I even start, there's so much wrong with that sentence..." Izzy said face-palming, "Let me phrase it like this: Etemon helped the progress in our journey more, than Gennai did."

"Now that's a bit harsh!" Kari argued.

"Is it? Everyone compare the time loss we suffered by dealing with Etemon, to the one we experienced by Gennai not telling us important information or forgetting about such, entirely."

Silence.

"Don't say it, I know I have a point!"

"So where's your backup?" Tai asked grinning, "Are they outside waiting for their cue to come in?"

"Actually, I don't know" Izzy admitted.

"Wait, _you_ don't know?"

"Shut up TK" Izzy said in passing, "They should have been here" he added checking the clock on his monitor, "_Half an hour ago!_"

"So?" Tai shrugged, "I've been late twenty-four hours once"

"Oh, yeah" TK recalled smiling, "I remember you asking how Myotismon got so huge all over sudden... Good times"

"No, it's not." Izzy corrected him, "It's the polar opposite. Back to the topic at hand, I gave them very specific directions. I send them the damn coordinates, for crying out loud!"

"So, they are not very good with directions" Tai said, "That's not unheard of, in our team. I mean, maybe not that extreme but..."

"The thing is, this very much confirms the suspicion, I got by communicating with them via text messages. To me it seems like they are not… how do I put this… up to par, okay?"

"_Whoa_" Kari said and turn pale.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tai asked his sister, concerned.

"_What's wrong?_ He said they aren't up to par" Kari explained, "We didn't exactly set up a high bar, to begin with. Am I the only one here, who is seriously freaked out by this?"

"You're not" Izzy reassured her, "I did the math"

"Relax" Tai said, "I'm sure it won't be _that _bad"

"Well based on the conversations, I had with all of them, I think it's very likely that two of them are dumb as bricks" Izzy argued.

"Well, how many kids you got us?"

"Three"

"Okay sis, I'm with you now. We are probably fucked."

"Now, there was a fourth candidate." Izzy said contemplative, "Appeared to be smart, but A: They declined my offer and B: I don't know who they are."

"But" Kari said confused, "How did you contact them if you don't even know who they are?"

"Gennai gave me some stupid, convoluted method to contact them all, without revealing their identity to me."

"That's dumb" TK huffed, "Why?"

"I don't know some privacy bullshit" Izzy growled annoyed, "This whole thing could have gone a lot smoother, if I could just monitor them, like every other DigiDestined!"

"Wait – _What?_" Kari exclaimed.

"My point is" Izzy said quickly, "I – I don't even know what went wrong with that kid! Gennai gave me profiles of their personalities, so I would be able to persuade them, more efficiently, to convene with us today"

"So you could do – what?" Tai asked.

"Ugh! I made promises to them, so they would come here to meet us! I promised that kid power! You know what their response was? It was quote, unquote: Nah, I'm good"

"That's weird" TK said, "Are you sure, you made the right offer?"

"I had a psychological profile of them, so I'm _pretty fucking certain I knew, what I was doing!"_ he yelled.

"Alright, alright, geez…"

"You are one to talk…" Izzy muttered.

"So, what should we do now?" Kari asked.

"Since we have no way of dealing with the threat in the Digital World right away" Izzy started, "I'd say we have not much of a choice, than to wait for the rookies to arrive"

The others stared at him eagerly, almost expecting him to continue.

"Meaning we have _no_ other options, than to wait." Izzy clarified.

Silence fell upon the group.

"Again with the waiting!" TK groaned, "So, I guess it's back to square one than."

"What are you talking about?" Izzy asked, "I mean we didn't exactly accomplish much but -"

"No, I mean the screensaver just came on"

"Great... somebody move the mouse" Izzy spoke from behind the computer-animated aquarium, now gracing the screen, "And Tai? Tell us your story, would you? Since we apparently have some time to kill, we might as well make it worth while."

"Dude, I told you I wont -"

"I know, I know" Izzy said soothing, "I'll debrief the rookies once we completed our objective. Just go ahead."

Tai hesitated.

"I mean I will explain everything to them once we are done! Go!"

"O- kay... I guess" Tai said before clearing his throat, "So there I was, just hanging out with Agumon in the Digital World and -"

"Wait!" Izzy interrupted him annoyed, "How did you get there?"

"The hell would I know?"

"_Are you serious right now?_"

"I am!" Tai answered, "My Digivice started beeping, then I just pointed it at the monitor of my dad's PC, and just got sucked in."

He shrugged.

"That's it?" Izzy asked, "Just like that? Did it give you any instructions, to do so?

"No man, I just had a feeling, you know?"

"A feeling... That's just great we can't even reconstruct the situation!"

"Wait a minute, of course we can" Tai said standing up, "I just need to point my Digivice at this monitor and see what happens."

"_Wait_" Izzy intervened impatiently, "You really shouldn't do that"

"Why not?"

"Because there is so many ways this could go wrong! For starters, you said we would need more people to deal with the situation there"

"Well, I don't wanna deal with it myself, I just wanna, like, poke my head in, you know?"

"Okay_, __then_ what? After you 'poked your head in' how are you planning to return? For all we know, you could easily end up trapped in there."

"No – I mean _yes!_ Yes, I do know how to get out again."

"You don't say" TK huffed sarcastically.

"All I need, is a TV or a monitor or something, then I point my Digivice at it and bam – I'm back."

"What if you end up somewhere entirely different than last time? What if there is no Agumon and no monitors near by?"

"It's the Digital World! There's monitors _everywhere!_"

"No, you're wrong" Izzy argued face-palming, "You seriously should not do this."

"Nah, don't be a baby, it'll be fine!" Tai said pointing his Digivice at the monitor.

"Tai..." Kari said worried.

"Look man, I'm with Izzy maybe you shouldn't..."

But Tai didn't back down. Determined he held up his Digivice, not caring about the possible consequences.

For maybe half a minute.

"Eh, didn't work" he shrugged and sat back down.

"Well, that was pointless" TK mumbled.

"I disagree" Izzy said, "I think we still learned something from Tai's little self-experiment."

"That my plans suck and I shouldn't be the leader anymore?"

"Huh, maybe hope isn't lost for you, after all." Izzy said mildly surprised, "Anyway, now with that out of the way, continue Tai."

"Wha- oh, yeah. The story." Tai said.

He cleared his throat again.

"So anyway, Agumon and I were just hanging out, catching up, you know -"

"We don't care about your happy reunion!" Izzy interrupted vigorously, "Tell us what we need to know!"

"_I was getting there_" Tai growled back, "So we were chatting and then suddenly some douche bag came riding in on an Airdramon, a human by the way, and started throwing some weird black rings at the Digimon around us, making them all aggressive and shit."

"Black devices that turn Digimon into aggressive killing machines. Haven't heard that before." Izzy said.

"Well, you gotta admit though, riding on an Airdramon is pretty bad-ass." TK argued impressed.

"Shut up! This guy is a fucking asshole, I hope he dies in a fire!" Tai snapped at him, furious.

"Oh my god" Kari said startled, knowing that her brother wasn't easily upset, "What did he do to them?"

"Well, for starters he treated them like shit and he called them all Jews!"

The group hesitated, not knowing how to respond.

"That..." TK started confused "... Doesn't sound too bad -"

"No, you don't understand!" Tai explained hastily, "He said it in a very spiteful way! Like, if I was calling you an asshole."

"I feel like you should be more specific than that" TK chuckled.

"Hey, take this fucking seriously, okay?!" Tai barked, "This guy is an antisemitic prick, who need's to be dealt with! We need to go in there and take him out, _now!_"

"Tai, I agree, using the term Jew as an insult is indeed very stupid" Izzy said calmly, "Still, I don't understand why you of all people would get so unreasonably furious about this."

"_Me of all people?!" _Tai shouted, now starting to fly into a rage and, surprisingly, jumping up from his chair.

"Calm down!" Izzy said sternly, "You fell asleep in combat before. It's not exactly hard to be of the assumption, that stuff like that, is usually not tangent to you."

"_ME OF ALL – _You know what you sound like, right know?"

"Enlighten me"

"You sound exactly like the people, who enabled _Hitler_ to take over Germany, back in the thirties!"

"Oooh, now I get it!" Kari said suddenly, "They're talking about German Death Camps in Tai's history class, right now!"

"Keepin' up the great mood, I see..." TK said grumpy.

"Seriously, what kind of a fucked up society are we living in, where people, even after all the bullshit happening in history, think of the word Jew as a fucking insult?! People like him are cancer! Fuck racism! Fuck antisemitism! Just kill 'em all, man!"

"Considering the context, I am not to sure, if that would be an appropriate response." Izzy argued.

"Well it's appropriate to _me_ asshole..." Tai murmured sitting back down, "That's it. I'm done. I'm gonna take a nap until the rookies arrive."

"Excuse me?" a female voice said, from behind Tai.

"GOD DAMMIT!"

Tai spun around Three kids had just arrived and were now standing in the door, uncertainly.

The Girl who had spoken out was rather tall and thin, wore glasses and had long purple hair. Next to her were two boys. The first one was just as tall as her, with spiky brown hair and (much to Tai's displease) a pair of goggles on his forehead. The last kid was shorter and appeared a bit younger. He had his hair in a straight bowl cut and, in stark contrast to his companions, he wore rather unremarkable clothes with muted colors. In addition he had quite an expressionless face.

"Ah, look who finally arrived!" Izzy said with false enthusiasm, "_How can it be so hard to find a damn computer-lab in this school?!_"

"Where did that voice come from?" The goggle kid asked scared.

"Oh, for the love of –_ turn the monitor back on!_"

Kari rushed to the screen and a few seconds later Izzy was visible again.

"_Oh, my gosh, it's Izzy Izumi!"_ The new girl squealed suddenly, and started bouncing up and down excitedly, "_Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!_"

"_Izzy Izumi?_ Wow, way to prove my point..." Izzy said baffled, shaking his head.

"Hey, dude" the goggle-kid started, "not trying to be rude or anything, but what's with the directions you gave us?"

"The perfectly reasonable and easy to follow guidance I gave you?" Izzy asked in a threatening tone.

"Uh, _no_?" goggles said defiantly, "It was just a bunch of numbers. What the hell was that about?"

Izzy's head was on his desk at this point. They heard muffled groans, it almost sounded like he was in pain.

"Plus" the goggle-head continued, ignoring Izzy's suffering, "we had to deal with this annoying kid for like... _hours!"_

Izzy slowly rose his head back up, looking at the smaller kid the boy was pointing at with his thumb. The shorter boy was staring blankly and silently back at Izzy.

"Yeah, I see you went through some serious torment to get to this point" Izzy said putting his head back down, "Congratulations! You passed. You're part of the crew. Happy fucking Birthday!"

"Well, we don't even know if that's really them" Kari said soothingly.

"Yeah, I mean" The girl said hesitantly, "Where is the food, Izzy-Senpai?"

"_Oh, god it's them!_" Izzy cried out.

"Wait, food?" TK asked puzzled, "What did you tell them, this meeting was about Izzy?"

"Ugh, I told you I made all of them promises, so they would come here." Izzy explained now slowly recovering his composure, "Well, the girl I promised pizza, the – annoying one, I guess – I promised justice and that moron with the goggles, I promised Hikari."

"Wait, _what!?_" Kari and Tai shouted in unison.

"Relax" Izzy said, "Do you see Italian food or the Dark Knight in here?"

"No, but I see my sister in here!" Tai countered.

"Point is, nobody is getting what they were promised. Hey rookies!"

The new kids looked around confused.

"Are you... talking to us?" The boy with the goggles asked confused.

"No! I'm talking to the _other_ three rookies who just came in!"

The goggle-boy and the girl hesitantly turned their heads around toward the open door.

Izzy banged his head on the table again.

"Somebody please come over here and kill me!" he cried in agony, "I have now witnessed, what I believe to be the absolute low of the human mind! I don't wanna be proven wrong by seeing anything lesser!"

"Well, it depends" Tai said contemplative, "How would you want to -"

"I was exaggerating, Tai!"

"Hey, man cheer up" TK said positively, "We were also pretty stupid back when you met us, remember?"

"Still are" Izzy sobbed lifting his head again, "But at least _you_ already knew what sarcasm was back then."

"Oh! That was sardellism!" The kid with the goggles exclaimed, "Now I get it! Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

The pain on Izzy's face vanished. He stared at the rookies.

"I changed my mind" he said, "Kill them, not me. It's for the greater good."

"Wait wha- ?" the girl said afraid.

"He's just kidding." Kari quickly said to her, "Right Izzy?"

"I don't know" Izzy said cold, "Am I?"

"Izzy look" TK said insistently, "We don't even know if that's the real deal"

"Oh, it's them! Trust me!"

"No, I mean, maybe Gennai made a mistake"

"Ha!" was Izzy's cynical reply.

"All I'm saying is that we have no proof that they are really meant to be DigiDes-"

TK was interrupted by three glowing orbs shooting out of the computer-screen, one red, one blue and one yellow. The orbs flew through the room and straight at the rookies. Albeit surprised, they instinctively caught them with their hands, where they transformed into three newly designed Digivices, each with accents in their respective colors. Goggle-head had the blue one, the girl the red one and the shorter boy the yellow one.

"You were saying?" Tai said looking at TK, eyebrows raised.

Now it was up to TK and Izzy to speak in unison:

"Crap!"

Izzy took a deep breath.

"Okay, now that we know that you're -" he let out a short and humorless laughter, "- actually meant to be DigiDestined -"

"We're gonna be DigiDestined?" The goggle-head call out excited, "That's so -!"

"Shut up." Izzy interrupted him, "Fuck it, since we apparently have to work together now, tell us your names. I suppose at this point it wouldn't cause much damage."

"Why would it... cause damage?" The girl asked, clearly still nervous because of Izzys death threat.

"Well, I was trying to handle all of this, the way you would if you had, say, a stray animal in your apartment. Once names get involved, the possibility of emotional attachment arises, something I desperately wanted to avoid the second you first opened your mouths" Izzy said, before pausing and looking at the boy with the blank stare, "Well, since - most of you did. In other words, once you name it, you're fucked. But, eh... communication's still a necessity, so let's just get this over with."

"Alright!" the goggle-kid said enthusiastically, "My name is Davis and ever since the crazy stuff, you guys pulled off three years ago, I wanted to become a DigiDestined myself. And now that I am, I wanna be the very best, like no one -"

"Great!" Izzy interrupted annoyed, "Next!"

"Oh, come on, Izzy." Tai said, apparently amused by the unfolding situation, "At least we now know there _are_ people actually remembering, what we did back in the day!"

"_Whoop-dee-fucking-doo!_"

"Okay" TK interfered, "Why don't we just skip the introductions and just give you shitty nicknames - _I mean code names!_ Goggle-head -"

"Is this my code name?"

"No! I was getting there!"

"Oh, so... why didn't you say Davis then?"

"Because I don't care about your real name wannabe! There... that's your code name - Wannabe. Done."

"So" the girl started somewhat hesitantly, "Are we still doing introductions? Because I wanna go next, can I go next, Izzy-Senpai?"

"Scratch that" TK sighed, "She is Wannabe now, you're Discount-Tai... I don't care"

"I feel kinda offended by that" Tai said grumpy.

"You should" TK reassured him, nodding.

"Okay, so my name is Yolei and I'm like you're biggest fan, Izzy-Senpai. When I saw how you defeated Diaboromon by sending him e-mails, it totally made me wanna learn coding – "

While she was still rambling, Izzy sighed and clicked on something with his mouse. A second passed and suddenly his facial expression relaxed. He closed his eyes, leaned back and let her continue for another ten to fifteen seconds before waving dismissively with one hand, saying, "Sure... next"

Yolei stopped dead in her tracks before looking to the floor, saddened.

Now, the short boy stated his name.

Izzy sat back up, clicking his mouse again.

"Come again?" he said.

"Cody" the boy simply said.

"See? That right there is a good answer! Short and to the point. I don't care about your fucking hobbies..."

"Hang on" Kari said suspiciously, "Did you just mute us?"

Izzy stared at her.

"Never mind... dumb question." she said in defeat.

"Okay, so you are... Blank. Who cares..." TK said.

"Well, great" Izzy said, "Now, as we already established, I'm Izzy, our OG-goggle-kid over there is called Tai, the blond one is TK -"

"What's that stand for?" Davis interrupted.

"_Do you mind?_" Izzy asked angrily, "I am trying to get this over with!"

"It's short for Takeru." TK explained.

"Then where does the 'K' come in -"

"Moving on! And finally the girl is Tais sister Kari"

"Thanks for labeling me 'the girl'" Kari muttered.

"Oh, yeah? Try 'the blond one'." TK argued.

"You would have had a point, if it wasn't for the fact that there's no other girls or blond people on our side to introduce." Izzy said calmly.

"Oh..." TK said, "Right..."

"So, now that we know each other" Izzy started, clearly forcing himself to sound like nothing of annoyance happened, "Let's all stick to the plan of getting this over with quickly. Get to the Digital World, take out that antisemitic prick Tai encountered and then let's all go our separate ways. And let's make them as separate as humanly possible."

"Ah, they don't have any Digimon." TK pointed out.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure they'll bump into them along the way." Izzy said, "That's usually how it works in the Digital World..."

"That sounds weird coming from you" Tai said, "Shouldn't you consider the worst-case-scenario, as usual?"

"Well, it doesn't look like their partners are going to emerge from this screen, like their Digivices did. So, I don't think they've got much of a choice, but to go in there and search for them."

"About going in there" Kari said, "I know you wanna explain everything to them after we're done, but wouldn't it be more helpful, if we told them now? You know, about the situation and who our enemy is?"

"Yeah, man" Davis said, "I'm like, really lost right now"

"Alright" Izzy sighed, "Tai can you take this one? Just bullet points, you don't have tell the whole story, again"

"Why not you?"

"Because, I feel like you're better at – how do phrase this – speaking there language."

"Thanks... I guess..." Tai grumbled, "Okay, listen up! _In – Digi-World – evil – dickhead – ensla-_ wait, is there an easier word for 'enslave'? Cuz I feel like he won't get that." he added pointing at Davis.

"Yeah, I'm still lost"

"And there I was, thinking, my life hit rock bottom on August first 1999." Izzy said slowly shaking his head, "You know, stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, in another dimension. Surrounded by deadly monsters and a bunch of morons. Of all the times I could have been wrong about something... so sad."

"Oh, my god!" TK said annoyed before clearing his throat, "Guys! Apparently there's an evil human kid in the Digital World."

"I never said, he was a kid" Tai replied.

"Oh, they're letting in _adults_ now?" TK asked facetiously.

"Point..." Tai sighed.

"Apparently he's mind-controlling Digimon, making them all evil and shit. We need to go in there and take him out so everything goes back to normal."

"What do you mean take him out?" Yolei asked concerned.

"_Kill him. _It means,_ kill him!_" Izzy said insistently, "Do we really need to spell everything -"

"_What?_" Yolei shrieked, causing Izzy to grimace from pain, "We can't just kill people! That's wrong!"

"Here we go..." Izzy whispered rolling his eyes.

"Uh, yeah we can." Tai said defiantly, "And you better get used to it. Because that's how we roll. Although, coming to think of it, I don't think we ever killed a human before... We killed Digimon in the real world before, does that count? Because they, sure as hell, ain't coming back"

"Just open the damn gate!" Izzy answered face-palming.

"Oh yeah, Einstein? How?"

"He has a point, you know" TK shrugged, "We couldn't recreate the way Tai got in, so..."

"Except he doesn't, because we haven't tried it with the new Digivices yet. Now: Blank, Wannabe, Discount-Tai" Izzy continued addressing the rookies, "line up in front of the monitor and point your Digivices at the screen."

Davis complied, but Yolei and Cody didn't move.

"_What?_" Izzy asked through gritted teeth.

"I told you, I won't kill anyone!" Yolei replied stubborn.

"Me neither" Cody added.

"Fine! You're the support then."

"I won't help you killing people, either!"

"Me neither"

"Only one person!" Izzy barked, before taking a deep breath, "But fine! We'll just capture him and – show him the error of his ways somehow, I don't know."

While still talking, he typed something on his keyboard for a moment.

"Wait, have we ever turned someone before?" TK asked concerned, "Do we even know, how to do that?"

Tais cellphone buzzed, so he checked his text messages, only to find one from Izzy:

Keep rookies in the dark!

Killing still the priority

Show this to TK and Kari, too

Tai smirked and showed the message to TK and Kari.

"What is it?" Yolei asked curiously and leaned toward them to see the message, but Tai pulled the phone away from her.

"Not for you, rookies" he said, "It's an inside joke, so you wouldn't get it anyway"

He exchanged quick looks with his sister and TK. TK nodded, smirking, too. Kari, on the other hand look concerned; apparently she wasn't to eager, to kill somebody either. But after a stern look from her brother, she nodded begrudgingly. But one thing didn't add up.

"Huh" Tai said before texting Izzy back:

How did you text me?

You didn't use your phone

Once the message was sent Izzy grabbed something off screen, presumably his phone, and glanced at it for a moment before putting it back.

"From my computer" he said short.

"What?" Yolei asked confused.

"I wasn't talking to you" Izzy said gruff, "Do you really think you have my undivided attention?"

"No! Of course not Izzy-Senpai!"

"Splendid" Izzy said disinterested, "So: Now are we good to go? Ready to stop that asshole in the Digital World?"

"As long as we're not killing him -"

"We won't! We went over this! So now, rookies: One of you point your Digivice at the monitor" Izzy demanded, "Tai, Kari and TK: Each pick one the rookies and put your hand on their shoulder"

"Why?"

"Because we don't know how this type if gate works." Izzy explained, "For all we know it could grant only them access to the Digital World unless you, well, hang on to them. Although, even that might not work."

"Sounds like fun..." Tai moaned.

TK was quick to put his hand on Cody's shoulder, while Kari chose the lesser of two evils in Yolei, leaving Tai with -

"I hate you guys" he sighed, placing his hand on Davis' shoulder.

"Everybody ready?" Izzy asked.

"I was born ready" Davis said excited. In fact so excited, that Tai felt the need to say:

"Before you get anymore giddy, while I have my hand on your shoulder, just remember that I could easily add my other hand and strangle you instead!"

"Got it!" Davis nodded confidently.

"I would bet money, that you don't"

Yolei raised her Digivice and pointed at at the screen. A few seconds passed before a small window appeared on the monitor.  
"Ah, Izzy-Senpai? A window just popped up and -"

"I know I started monitoring your screen since the last time it turned off"

"What's it saying?" TK asked, cracking up, "Cannot compute, idiocy overload?"

"Good one" Kari chuckled.

"No..." Yolei said staring at the screen, seemingly not even a little bit offended , "It says: Gate to the Digital World. Open?"

"Subtle" Izzy said.

"B-but there's nothing to click on!" Yolei panicked, "W-what am I supposed to do Izzy-Senpai?"

"Relax" Izzy insisted, "Try a vocal command."

"Right" she said nervously, "Uh... Open, gate to the Digital World!"

"Maybe try being less cheesy next time" Izzy said eye-rolling.

Nothing happened.

"You mean like - now?" TK asked.

But suddenly they heard a scream, out in the hallway followed by a loud swooshing sound.

"What is that?" Kari asked worried.

"What is what?" Izzy asked, "The mic on your end sucks"

"Sounds like water" Tai said.

"Yeah, tons of it" TK said uneasy.

"Oh, yeah" Izzy said as something seemed to dawn on him, "I figured this could happen again."

"What do you -" Tai started but was cut off by an enormous tidal wave, bursting in through the door, swallowing all of them whole.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**So, yeah. Here you go. The Prologue and the first chapter of Digital Morons 2.0 (As the title was intended to be written, until I realized, this website doesn't support punctuation in story titles - hooray!).**

**Feedback is very much welcome, especially in regards to word choice and grammar, seeing how English isn't my first language.**

**As for new chapters I am planning on releasing them on a monthly basis, which should hopefully give me enough time to write all this. I have written a few chapters in advance, so I should have a nice head start. I was planning on releasing this yesterday already, but I hadn't made my account yet, so the 12 hour waiting period kinda took me by surprise. For future chapters I'll try to stick to the 26th of the month as an upload date - no promises though... we'll see how well this goes once I'm running out of pre-written chapters...**

**That's it for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this at least as much as I did writing it!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Pizza, Justice and Hikari

-x-

**Chapter Two**

**Pizza, Justice & Hikari**

"Ugh!" Tai groaned as they all slowly got back on their feet, now in the Digital World, "Will this always happen, when we open the Digital Gate? Will there always be a freaking tsunami to flush us in?"

"Huh, I just decided I will not try to add this feature to my own Digivice, to do this myself" Izzy said dry, his voice now echoing from the sky above them, "And I definitely won't try it at home. And to answer your question Tai: Since the only times this didn't occur, were when the Digital World was visible in Earths atmosphere, and when we had those unnatural raptures caused by Etemon's stunt, I think it's safe to assume this is what usually happens, if someone enters the Digital World."

"Great..." Tai said.

"So, Izzy is god in here now, huh?" Kari said mildly surprised, "I guess, we all knew this day would come eventually."

Izzy chuckled.

"Thank you, but not quite"

"Nice one, Izzy" Kari said, shaking her head, "I tried to be funny, but you had to take this down the creepy route, huh?"

"Anyway, you just reminded me, that I can currently be heard, by everyone and everything, in the general area you are in." Izzy contemplated, "Let me fix that real quick."

And with that, all of them heard a soft clicking noise that felt like it was produced near or even directly in their ears.

"That should do the trick" Izzy said and this time it sounded to them, like his voice was directly in their ears as well, "Now, let's get going"

"Guys!? _Guys?_" Davis, who just came to, shouted panicking, "I think I'm going crazy!"

"Well, there is a plot twist for you..." TK said sarcastically.

"There's a voice inside my head! _What is happening to me?!_"

"Oh, my god..." Izzy said with an audible face-palm in his tone,

"Davis! Listen to me! This is Izzy. I am not a voice inside your head. I just tweaked the settings on my end so I'm only audible to - oh, that's right - I made it so you can hear me, as if you were wearing headphones!" he was talking very slowly and clearly at this point, "So nobody, but guys can hear me. _Do you understand?_"

"_How are you doing these things?_" Davis whispered awestruck.

"Well, I could explain but... I feel like that won't help you"

"Um... Izzy-Senpai?" Yolei asked carefully.

"What, Wannabe?"

"Uh, I was just wondering do we get pizza in here or..."

"Oh, my - what is with your obsession with pizza?"

"I'm sorry! It's just..." Yolei started, blushing, "...I just wanted a pizza, all for myself, for once..."

"I'm just gonna... go ahead and not question that..." Izzy said in passing, "Again, rookies! As I was trying to tell you earlier, those promises I made - they were just an excuse to get you to meet with us."

"Then why not tell us the truth?" Cody asked with a surprising hint of anger in his voice.

"Because it was sensitive information, I didn't wanna hand out to people, I never actually met!" Izzy explained impatiently, "But wait a minute. What kind of justice are we actually talking about? Your promise, I mean. Gennai's little info-sheet never specified."

"Just... justice in general..."

"Really? That's it?"

"Yes..." Cody nodded, "My Dad was a police officer and... justice is important..."

"Well, you're in luck than!" Tai intervened, "Because our job is all about serving justice!"

"Tai's got a... _point_" Izzy said puzzled, then shuddering slightly, "What a weird thing to say..."

"But wait!" Yolei said indignantly, "Why am I the only one who doesn't get, what she was promised?"

"Cody's wish just happened to line up with our mission." Izzy said.

"And what about Davis?"

"What are you talking about?" TK asked, "He's not getting anything, either!"

"_Oh, really?_" Yolei snorted.

"So, Kari" Davis said with a confident smirk and a wink, "You're planning on doing something, when we're done here?"

"Well, she's not planning on taking you to the hospital, I can tell you that much." Tai said grim stepping between him and his sister.

"We talk later" Davis told her quietly.

"See? As long as Tai lives, he won't get what he wants either." Izzy said, "Cody lucked out. End of discussion."

"But - "

"There is no pizza!"

"_There is no spoon_" TK said with a fake British accent.

He giggled, but the others just stared at him.

"What?" he asked, "None of you have seen 'The Matrix'?"

"So, how far can you see, Izzy?" Tai asked, "Do you have like, a birds eye view or..."

"Well, here's the thing: I cannot see you or your surroundings. If there was cameras around, I could hack into them. Right now, I just have a map on my monitor."

"Oh, so you can't see us, huh?" Tai asked smirking, "That's too bad"

"However, I can _literally_ hear you flipping me off, right now."

"Okay, whatever" Tai said ceasing to raise his middle finger to the sky, "So, yeah. We landed somewhere at the edge of a giant desert. Big surprise there... coming to think of it I should be more specific. There is a jungle with some weird -"

"Tai, I can see you as blips on my map, shut up" Izzy said quickly, "Now, can you tell me exactly where you left Agumon, so I can guide you there?"

Tai didn't answer.

"_Well?_"

"I thought you told me to shut up?" Tai asked smirking.

"Tai!"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! What was the question?"

"_Agumon. Where did you leave him?_"

"Uh... It definitely wasn't here I can tell you that much"

"Describe the place, Tai!" Izzy hissed impatiently, "Come on, work with me here!"

"Okay, okay!" Tai replied stressed out, "It was like a cave, but not underground... um... and it was in the jungle. Could have been this one, really."

"Well, believe it or not, Tai, but there's quite a few places matching that _incredibly detailed_ description of yours. How about something recognizable, there or in the surrounding area?"

"Well, there was a black... what do you call them? One of those Egyptian towers..."

"Obelisks?" Izzy asked.

"Right! That's the one!"

"Tai" TK sighed, "I can see at least ten of those on the horizon over there. I'm not sure if this helps."

"It doesn't: The map seems to be littered with those..."

"Yeah, seems to be a new trend or something." Tai figured.

"You think Airdramon-asshole built those?" TK asked scratching his head.

"That would make so much sense!" Tai agreed euphorically, "Think about it: Egypt, Jews! They had beef in the past right? Around that time with the ten plagues, or something."

"_In any event!_" Izzy interrupted angry, "That doesn't narrow it down! Anything else?"

"Well, not on the outside"

"Okay" Izzy said, "Let's give it a shot. What was on the inside? I'm not sure how, but it might help."

"There was a weird egg with my crest on it, but..."

"_Are you serious Tai?_"

"I am!" Tai defended himself, "Why would I make this up?"  
"No, I mean why didn't mention this before? An artifact with a crest on it? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

A moment passed.

"He shrugged, didn't he?" Izzy asked.

"Oh, that's right you can't see us" Tai remembered, "I dunno. Forgot."

"I really shouldn't be surprised..." Izzy said, "On the plus side, that should give us some options to find that place. I should be able to scan the area for energy readings. Meanwhile rookies check your Digivices."

"Why?" Yolei asked.

"Because I just received another one of Gennais famous e-mails, which are only somewhat useful at best. This one only told me what the new Digivices are called: D3's"

"D3's?" TK asked, "What does that stand for?"

"Digimon, detect & discover"

"That's lame"

"Tell me about it" Izzy agreed, "Now, give me a minute, I gotta reply to this real quick. Thanks for... the update. How about... sending... useful... information... for once... in your... damn... life!"

"Wow" Tai chuckled, "You tell him, man."

"Anyway the 'detect and discover' part is what caught my attention. So, do you see any markers on your D3's, or anything indicating where this object could be, rookies?"

"No"

"No, nothing"

"Yes, there's a blinking dot on mine" Davis said.

"Great, so they _do_ have some useful features, fantastic." Izzy remarked.

"What's the deal with those D3's anyway?" TK asked grumpy, "How come the rookies get the special treatment and cool new Digivices, while we, _the original Digidestined_, are stuck with the shitty old design?"

"The _cool new Digivices?_" Tai said skeptically, "You mean these over-designed pieces of crap? Let me tell you this: In like ten years they will have aged poorly and won't look nearly as cool as you think they are now. Ours on the other hand, with their sleek, simple, elegant design, can easily be considered timeless"

"Thanks man" TK said smirking, "Now I feel way better about mine."

"Wow, look at you, Tai" Kari said nudging her big brothers arm,

"Paying attention in arts class?"

"It's little to no effort." Tai shrugged, "It's like sleeping in other classes while listening at the same time. It's kinda amazing, really."

"Yes, we're all very proud of you." Izzy said hand waving, "Whatever. Now for the hard part... Davis: Turn, until the dot is at the top of your D3's screen."

Davis turned a few times around himself.

"Okay – it's – ugh! It's blinking I can't -"

He continued until TK got impatient and snatched the D3 out of his hand, growling in frustration.

"Hey! That's mine, you dick!"

"You'll get it back rookie, I promise!" TK said, "Okay, got it Izzy. What's next?"

"Walk into the direction your facing now."

TK gave Davis his D3 back and they started following TK into the forest.

"Okay that's it, I know what you're heading towards. To your left should be a small path. Follow it and you should end up at the cavern Tai 'described'"

"I heard those air-quotes" Tai grumbled.

"Good"

"Izzy?" Kari asked, nervously glancing through the trees at the dark towers scattered across the landscape, "A thought occurs. You are going to help us until we settle this whole situation right? Even we don't finish it today?"

"Absolutely not, Kari. Just today."

"Oh, boy..."

"Ah, relax" TK said reassuring, "It's easy: Tai just needs to announce me the leader today and bam: Izzy's still our support... or rather - our manager."

"Oh, yeah that's right" Kari said relieved, "All we need, is a new leader. Problem solved. I vote TK, too."

"Yeah" Tai huffed, "As if I would make fucking St. Anger over here, my replacement!"

TK opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it again, with his facial expression changing from offended to impressed.

"Yeah, no, I got nothing that one was actually pretty good."

"I know, right?" Tai nodded, grinning.

"No, it wasn't..." Izzy objected, "What is that even supposed to mean?"

"I don't know man, his Digimon turns into an angel and he's... angry." Tai shrugged, "It just popped into my head, okay?"

"Impressive, Tai..." Izzy said.

"So, um... was just wondering..." Yolei said, "Could you maybe like... order pizza or something?"

Izzy let out a long, frustrated sigh.

"You know what? Fair enough. You'll get your damn pizza, if that means you'll finally shut up about this! Davis, I might have gone a little overboard with your promise. Kari isn't exactly an object we can give away."

"Yep" Tai and Kari said in a similarly grumpy tone.

"We're gonna find something else for you, alright?"

"Yeah, got you, man. _We'll find something else..._"

"You know winking at someone only works, if that person can _see you..._"

"Ha! Then how did you know I was winking? Busted!"

"The way you said it, was practically equal to the statement _'I am winking at you, right now'_. You can't get much more obvious than that."

"I completely understand" Davis said slowly nodding and winking again.

"Well Kari, I tried" Izzy said, "Sorry for your loss."

"Yeah, it's okay..."

"Uh, no it's not!" Tai said rather angry, "Looks like he still thinks my sister is his trophy wife!"

"Just remind him of your presence whenever he makes an unwanted move." Izzy recommended, "That should do the trick."

"Ugh! This is gonna be a fucking drag..."

They followed the narrow path, through a jungle littered with soda machines and occasional fridges.

"So" Davis said, looking around in awe, "This is where the Pokémon are from..."

"Just so you know" Izzy said with a brief, concerning shake in his voice, "If you were to take a human life in the Digital World there would, most certainly, be no hard evidence to be left behind. What. So. Ever. Save for witnesses of course but they could be disposed of in a similar manner"

"Okay..." Tai said mystified, "I get what you're saying but did you have to say it, like you were making a damn presentation about it?"

"Yeah, man." Davis agreed, "I have no idea, what you were talking about, just now."

"Oh, okay. I see what you did there, Izzy." Tai said quickly.  
"Davis? Yolei?" Cody said suddenly, "I'm not sure if we should trust these people."

"Shut up, Cody!" Davis and Yolei said simultaneously.

"Jinxed!" Davis added swiftly, pointing at Yolei.

"Wha-?"

"Ah! You're not allowed to talk!" Davis interrupted her, "Unless somebody says your name -"

"New rule" Izzy cut in, "Nobody say her name!"

"- or if you buy me a coke"

Yolei looked around startled, her eyes begging for help. Then she spotted a nearby soda machine, made a few gestures with her hands and stormed off toward it.

"Did she just say 'Screw that noise' in sign language?" Izzy asked with a mixture of disbelief and positive surprise in his voice.

"Wait, I thought you can't see us!" Tai said confused.

"There's an ATM with a built in surveillance camera a bit down the path." Izzy explained.

"Oh"

"Uh, Yo- oh man, I almost said her name there" Kari said after realizing what Yolei was up to - and subsequently remembering something, she was told about soda machines in the Digital World, Yolei couldn't possibly know, "If I were you I -"

But Tai quickly put his hand on her shoulder.

"Shhh... just let it happen", he said smiling.

As soon as Yolei reached the soda machine, its front burst open releasing a bunch of green slug like creatures on top of her.

"Eeeeeeeeek!" She shrieked falling to the floor in shock.

"Uhm..." Davis said scratching his head, "Does this count as talking?"

The slimy Numemon then crawled right passed her toward Kari.

"Oh, my!" One of them said, "Queen Kari! It is so good to see you again!"

"Hey, Numemon" Kari answered awkwardly, "How was afterlife - oh, my god, _I'm so sorry!_ I am so bad at this!"

"No, it's okay!" Numemon said quickly, "I mean, it took longer than expected, but starter village was destroyed at the time and you had a war to win, after all."

"Well, nice to see you guys are back to normal." Kari said glancing at Yolei, who was still staring at the empty vending machine in front of her.

"Well, there was something we wanted to ask you, still." Numemon said, "We wanted to ask you this, the last time we met already. But after our unfortunate departure -"

"It's okay you don't have to remind me..." Kari said cringing, "I remember... vividly..."

"We wanted to know if you would like to join us and become our bride."

"What?" Tai hissed, his eyes twitching and his head tilted slightly.

"He he, that's very nice of you..." Kari chuckled nervously, "But I'm really busy right now. Also being a queen was never really my thing, soooo..."

"Oh, okay okay" Numemon said awkwardly with a frantic nod, "No big deal... uh... we're gonna be fine..."

"Best of luck..." Tai whispered threatening.

"Well, it was so nice meeting you again, Queen Kari" another Numemon said humble, "But we really gotta be off now. Gotta find a new vending machine and stuff... you know the drill"

Confused, TK and Kari exchanged a quick glance.

"What's wrong with the old one?" TK asked.

The soda machine exploded into a cloud of fire and debris.

"JESUS CHRIST NOOOOOOOOO!" Yolei screamed in horror and curled up into a fetal position protecting her head from the falling pieces of the machine.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Davis bellowed.

"Well we felt like the 'Numemon vending machine prank' was getting a little uninspired at this point." Numemon explained, "So we figured we'd add another layer to it. In hindsight it does seem a bit wasteful, though..."

"That's not adding another layer" Kari said looking at Yolei still cowering among the burning rubble, "That's borderline attempted murder!"

"What do you mean 'borderline'?" Izzy asked skeptical.

"Anyway, my Queen" Numemon said before all of them bowed their heads before Kari, "We shall bid you adieu."

"Take care of her for us!" Another Numemon called out to Davis while passing him.

"Stay away from her! She is mine!" Davis answered through gritted teeth.

"You know, Izzy?" Tai said quietly glaring at Davis "Your 'no evidence plan' is starting to grow on me..."

"Huh, I thought you were on board right away" Izzy said, "I mean, it's not like he started drooling over her like that, just now. In any case, we got a job to do. Keep following the path you're nearly there. Just - don't come to close to the ATM... You know just in case. Get up wannabe, we all got almost killed, one time or another. Get used to it, it's part of the deal."

"A-are they gone?" She asked shaking.

"Stop talking, cheater!" Davis said cold.

"Give her a break" Kari argued, "She literally almost died walking up to that soda machine - I think that counts as 'buying you a coke', Davis!"

"Oh, yeah you're right of course!" Davis said hastily.

"Kiss-ass..." Tai mumbled, still hatefully glaring at him.

"Be glad he didn't actually kiss her ass" TK said.

"_He_ should be glad, he didn't..."

They followed a turn on the path and were greeted by what looked like a large rock formation with a hole, a little bigger than the average human, presumably opening up into the cavern, Tai had told them about.

They were also greeted by:

"Tai!"

"Kari!"

"TK!"

Three Digimon darted toward them from the caverns entrance. The first was an orange dinosaur resembling a T-Rex, but only as small as a human child. The next was a white cat with purple stripes across her back and tail and two large, yellow, paw-like gloves. Last was a small creature shaped like a bean mostly orange with a white belly and bat like wings on his back.

"Oh yeah, Gatomon and Patamon were there, too" Tai said shrugging, "Forgot to mention."

The dinosaur known as Agumon proceeded to tackle down Tai, embracing him, while the cat, jumped into Karis arms and the bean, flew into TK's.

"Okay man, cut it out" Tai said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "It's been like, an hour since we last saw each other"

"What?" Agumon said perplexed, "Just an hour? No way!"

"Okay, fair enough. Maybe more like - four hours" Tai admitted,

"Still: no need to jump me like this."

"Oh my gosh!" Yolei gushed with a high pitched voice, "_They're so cuuuute!_"

"Uh, Agumon isn't _cute_ \- he's awesome!" Tai said.

"No, you're just so cute!"she said, as if she was talking to a small dog, petting him joyfully, "Yes you are. _Yes you are!_"

"Uh, Tai?" Agumon asked nervously, "Who's she?"

"Oh, yeah we got rookies, now" Tai explained. He then quickly introduced the newcomers.

"And these three are our partners" Tai continued, while pointing at each of he Digimon individually, "This is Agumon, the cat is Gatomon - and the cry-baby over there is Patamon."

"I'm so-o happy to s- see you TK!" Patamon cried, "Why aren't you crying TK? I th-thought that was o-our thing."

"Yeah... I'm not really into that whole crying thing anymore..." TK said awkwardly, "I feel like yelling and trashing stuff is more of my style, now."

"O-oh okay" Patamon sniffled, "M-mind if I have a minute though?"

"Yeah, it's cool buddy." TK said petting his back, "Let it all out."

"_Awww!_" Yolei said with glossy eyes, looking at Gatomon being hugged by Kari, "Can I cuddle her, too?"

"Sure, if you wanna loose an eye." Gatomon said opening one eye, looking at her, "Looks like, you've got enough of those"

"That's mean..." Kari said, letting go of Gatomon.

"Wait a minute" she added suddenly, looking more closely at her,

"Where is - ?"

"Yeah" Gatomon answered saddened, "I lost my tail-ring fleeing those Digimon with the black rings. There was this Unimon that stepped on my tail and the ring got stuck -"

"No, that's not what I meant." Kari intervened, "I mean that's a bummer, but what I meant was my whistle! Where's the whistle I gave you?"

"Oooh..." Gatomon said awkwardly, "Yeah, here's the thing: I kind of lost it..."

"You lost it when you fled those Digimon, too?" Kari asked,

"That's too bad..."

"No, I meant, I lost it in a game of Poker."

"What?!"

"Look I was in a bad way, lost a ton of money..."

"Hang on" Tai said incredulously, "Who the hell takes the whistle of an eight-year-old as a price in a Poker game?"

"Oh, don't tell me..." TK said cracking up.

"I don't know, man" Gatomon said shaking her head, "Once I told them where I got it from, those Numemon got really interested in it for some reason."

"_Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me!_" Tai cussed while TK burst into laughter.

"Wow!" he said his eyes watering, "Looks like those Numemon really have the hots for Kari!"

"I can't believe you did that!" Kari said upset, "I _gave_ that to you! That was my gift to you, when we said goodbye!"

"I know! It's not like I bet it over a few bucks!" Gatomon defended herself, "I would have been in serious debt with those guys! They come in hordes! You know what kind of damage they can cause in larger numbers?"

"We do" Izzy said, "We saw Machinedramon kill about a thousand of them in one hit."

"_Thank you, Izzy!_" Kari said sarcastically, "I _completely_ forgot about that!"

"Supressing memories is unhealthy, anyway. So, you're welcome."

"Hi, Izzy" Gatomon greeted, "So, you finally got to be the god of this place, huh?"

"Is that why I can hear his voice in my head?" Agumon asked.

"Oh, yeah. I can speak to all of your partners from my PC." Izzy explained, "And since you all hugged each other, I was able to add you to the network."

"Okay, let's get back on track here" Kari said relentlessly.

"Sounds good! How about _you_ acknowledge the fact that my tail-ring is gone, too?" Gatomon countered, "I lost a part of me. And it's never coming back! Unless... I find it somewhere, that is."

"Where'd you loose it?" Izzy sighed, "Remember the place? The general area? Maybe I can locate it."

"In a forest... that direction... -ish?" Gatomon tried to recall, "Hard to tell I ran for quite a few miles"

"Never mind"

"Yeah, like I said" Gatomon continued, "A piece of me is gone. Forever!"

"Oh, don't act like you lost a limb - Aaaand now I feel horrible..." Kari said ashamed, "It's not like you _actually_ lost a limb, is it?"

"Well, no" Gatomon admitted, "But I think, I'm nerfed as fuck, now"

"But you _gambled my whistle away!_"

"Hey, I tried to double down and win it back, but they weren't having it!" Gatomon explained, "I think they figured out that I was completely broke at that point. Wouldn't have been a hard guess... No! Actually, I think they just didn't wanna risk loosing it again."

"You gotta hand it to them, Gatomon" TK said giggling, "They are _waaay_ more devoted than you are!"

"Shut up"

"TK, that's not funny!" Tai said angry.

"Maybe not to you" TK answered still laughing, "To me it's hilarious!"

"I don't know what's with those guys" Gatomon said, "They were _really_ into that thing!"

"Alright, whatever..." Tai grumbled.

"I'm serious, they were fucking obsessed with it."

"Okay! I get the picture!" Tai shouted, "_TK, stop laughing!_"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'll keep it together." TK said clearing his throat trying to shake it off - but failing.

"Sh-hit! Sorry, but wh-what do you think they u-use that thing for?"

"Okay, that's it!" Tai said fed up, "Izzy is it possible for you, to track down Digimon with unusual items, like say... _whistles from the human world?_"

"There is very little I would consider _im_possible in this context" Izzy contemplated, "However it's a big world so... be patient."

"Pff, if that's what it takes I'll be fine." Tai said unimpressed, "I'd track 'em down myself, if I had to."

He paused.

"Eh, screw it" he continued, "I'd probably kill them myself, too"

"Tai, I appreciate it" Kari said, "But I think killing them, just to get my whistle back, is a little..."

"_That's not why I wanna kill them, Kari!_"

"Alright, let's keep the mission moving, everyone." Izzy said, "Happy reunion is over. We're on the clock."

"Can't wait..." Kari muttered.

"Yeah, good to be back!" Gatomon said crossing her arms.

"Good to know, the symbols of our friendship are still being treasured!"

"Good to know, my health and well-being are still the top-priority here!"

"You can tell a team's gonna work _amazingly_, if the returning members, instantly hate each other upon reunion", Izzy commented dry.

They group entered the cave. Light was poring through a hole in the ceiling onto a football sized egg. Embers emerged from the egg, floating upwards toward the hole in a column of heat haze. Occasionally the embers pulsed brightly, illuminating every corner of the room. On the walls were engravings of all the kids crests, with Tais being displayed larger in the center of the wall opposed to them. The egg had a large horn attached to its top half. A red and orange pattern, resembling flames, decorated its shell, surrounding the crest Tai was chosen for 3 years ago.

"Tai?"

"Sup, TK?"

"How the _fuck_ did you forget to mention this?" TK asked completely baffled, "Seriously, it's like a freaking sacred icon! I half expected damn choir singing in the background! That really would have completed the picture."

"Oh, stop overselling it!"

"No, he is right, Tai" Kari said, "I feel humbled just by standing in here."

"Uh, doesn't your name translate to 'humble' or something, sis?"

"So, what size is it?" Izzy asked since he couldn't see inside the cave, "Are we talking monolith or...?"

"No, it's maybe as big as my head." Tai answered.

"Minus the hair though" TK added.

Tai glared at him.

"What? I figured we should be more specific." TK explained, "Let's be real: it makes a huge difference."

"Bite me"

"Tai?" Izzy asked, obviously frustrated, "Has the thought, to pick the damn thing up, _ever_ crossed your mind? Or at least to interact with it?"

"I did! It's like screwed to the floor or some shit!"

"In that case, here is my next question: _Why didn't you mention ANY of this?!_"

"I got really pissed about Airdramon-asswipe!" Tai defended himself, "It was fucking distracting, okay?"

Izzy sighed.

"So you're saying it can't be moved?"

"Yep" Tai nodded, "Trust me. I tried."

"Well, once" Gatomon said.

"_Yeah_" Tai said challenging, "I did what I could!"

"Did you try pointing your Digivice at it?"

"Oh, I completely forgot!" Tai huffed sarcastically - before putting a finger up to his lips, signaling the others not to say anything. He then pointed his Digivice at the egg.

"So? You tried it now?"

"I already told you: It didn't work!"

"Glad you tried it, after all..." Izzy said, "Better late than never... So, we can't interact with it? At all?"

"Looks like it."

"Oh, god dammit, fuck this!" TK said storming past Tai and toward the egg.

"Dude, I'm not fucking with you! It's either glued to the floor or weighs a ton!"

"Oh, yeah?" TK said, "We'll see about tha- oh shit! It really doesn't budge!"

He tried pulling on it from various angles, but the egg wouldn't even move an inch.

"Oh, come on!" Davis said suddenly, "It can't be that hard!"  
"Fine" TK said after returning to his spot next to Tai, "You try it, rookie. Five bucks, that he's gonna hurt himself, trying." he added quietly leaning over to Tai.

"I wouldn't bet against that." Tai mumbled back, "I'd be willing to pay you, if it meant he slipped and somehow broke his neck..."

Davis walked up to the egg rolling up his sleeves.

"God, I wish I had a camera for this..." Izzy said.

"Watch this – whoa!"

Preparing for a lot of weight Davis used all of his strength lifting up the egg, resulting in it shooting up as if it weighed merely as much as a balloon. Davis lost his grip on the egg and fell backwards, while the egg sailed through the air, in Yolei's direction. Gasping she jumped forward, trying to catch it. As soon as her fingertips touched the egg, it suddenly accelerated. It ripped her arms downward and with a high pitched scream Yolei fell flat on her face. Moaning she rolled off the egg, revealing, it was completely intact.

"Wow" TK said calm, "That was a close call"

"What happened?" Izzy asked, "Wait! Would the answer damage my faith in humanity?"

"You mean what's left of it?" Tai asked crossing his arms, "Probably"

"Anything, I really _should_ know?" Izzy added, sounding somewhat anxious.

"Davis picked up the egg, overdid it, fell on his ass, the egg flew, Yolei tried to catch it, face-planted." TK summarized, "Egg's fine."

"It got heavier, when I touched it!" Yolei exclaimed, "That's why I fell!"

"She's right" Tai said surprised, while trying to pick up the egg again, "Still... not... moving!"

"Let me try!" Davis said excited.

"Maybe try using only half your strength this time" TK suggested, "Or like - a tenth."

Davis picked up the egg with ease. Suddenly something in the front pocket of his jeans started to glow.

"What the - ?" he said startled.

"Why is it doing that?" Kari wondered.

"Look, I hate to be _that guy_" Izzy said slightly impatient, "But I could _really_ use a narrator right now!"

"Oh! Uh, it's floating in mid-air." Kari said quickly, "It's glowing and now it's unfolding."

"The egg..." Izzy started incredulously, "Is _unfolding?_"

"No! Sorry! Davis has one of these... what are they called? One of these new pager-thingys..."

"A D-Terminal?"

"Yeah, that's it, Izzy-Senpai!" Yolei stepped in.

"Whatever" Tai said, "Moment's passed. Davis' D-Terminal just sucked in the egg."

"Oh, our real-world-devices can _absorb_ objects in the Digital World now?" Izzy said before a short chuckle, "Huh, I wonder what my laptop could do in there if a lousy D-Terminal can soak up a freaking artifact like that! Homework assignment to all of you by the way: Whoever doesn't have a D-Terminal yet, buy one until tomorrow or get your parent's to buy you one. Let's gather all the tool's we can get."

"No homework for me!" Davis said triumphant.

"Okay, now that looks kinda threatening..." Tai said uneasy.

"What does?"

"It does look pretty violent." Kari agreed taking a step back.

"Guys! I can't see you! You gotta stop with the pronoun-game!"

"There is like a laser-beam where the egg was at first" TK explained, "It's growing stronger and it looks _pissed off!_"

"You mean removing the egg, triggered some sort of energy release?"

"_No,_ I mean there is a fucking _heat ray_, that's trying to kill us, if we don't leave _now!_"

"_But why would it do that?!_" Yolei shouted, while the laser grew louder and louder, "Davis was obviously chosen for the egg so why would it punish - ?"

"_It's the Digital World, man!_ You never know!" TK yelled, "When we found my crest in the desert, the stone tablet, it was on, disappeared and there was a giant sand dune behind it, so we were almost buried alive by a landslide!"

"Ah, 'wrath of the desert'!" Tai remembered smiling, "The good old days!"

"Let's get out of here!"

"Wait!" Patamon intervened, "I know this feeling! This isn't a bad thing! Look! It's getting weaker!"

"What is that...?" Kari whispered squinting her eyes, "Oh, right! Um, there's some... thing floating in the middle of the beam - but uh... now the beam is nearly gone so..."

"Ugh! Kari turn on your camera for me, will you?" Izzy said annoyed.

"Huh?" Kari said confused, "Why?"

"It's probably not gonna work since you brought it with you, but I'm gonna try hacking into it." he explained, "I can't take this crap anymore..."

"You wanna _hack_ into my camera?"

"It's only gonna work, as long as it is in the Digital World. Trust me: I'm gonna use it for the greater good."

"But my batteries - "

"Seriously? You think a battery, of all things will run out in the Digital World? In six months none of the flashlights, we brought from summer camp, ever died."

"Fair..." Kari said nervously turning on the camera she wore around her neck.

"Oh, look at that, it worked" Izzy said surprised, "Huh, I see the pattern now: Every time I'm wrong... is when I doubt myself. Really could have seen it sooner..."

They all stepped closer (except for TK, who took a step closer to the exit), curious what was floating in the faint remains of the energy beam. Looking closer they realized, what it was.

"A... Digimon" Kari said hesitating.

"You sound surprised" Izzy said with irritation, "What did you expect? A bag full of money?"

"Careful with that" TK said, "You might summon Joe."

"No, that's saying 'Dollar' three times in the mirror at 9.30 a.m. New York Time" Izzy corrected, "Seriously though: Kari what did you expect?"

"Nah, I get it, sis" Tai said, "I was hoping he wouldn't get one, too."

The Digimon, hovering in a fetal position over the spot, where the egg used to be, opened its eyes. It looked around for a few seconds before flashing a grin and jumping out of the force field. It was completely blue, save for its white belly and resembled, like Agumon, a dinosaur, although it looked more humanoid and had a shorter head, with a small dull horn on top of its nose and a yellow 'V' on its forehead.

"Finally!" the Digimon yelled, revealing it was apparently male, "Back in action!"

"Awesome!" Davis shouted, "So you're my starter Pokémon? Man, I'm so excited! But hang on! Is the egg, your Pokéball or... have you just been born? Whatever, you can be like Pikachu, you know? Following me around and stuff. Wait, do I still have to catch you? Also how can you talk? Or wait, you guys just say your names all the time, right? Did you just say your name? Kind of a long one..."  
The Digimon, whose grin had slowly faded during Davis' rant, now looked at him in utter disbelief. He turned to the rest of the group.

"Is this guy a joke?" he said pointing a thumb over his shoulder at Davis, "This is a prank on me, right? That moron can't be my partner!"

"Well, looks like I've got some explaining to do" Izzy said, "Refreshing. Discount-Tai - we really gotta change that name, by the way, it does not have a ring to it - Anyway rookie give your new partner a hug. You know - to break the ice."

"Got it!" Davis said, "Come here, little buddy!"  
As soon as he touched the new arrival, the Digimon started to lash out. Violently.

"Hey, hey! Get your fucking hands off me, asshole! Get the fuck away from me or I'll headbutt your fucking brains out!"

"Okay, I don't want a hug anymore" Davis said and hastily let go of him.

"So" Izzy said with a smug tone in his voice, "Veemon, is it? Not the best first impression, but eh... Welcome to the crew anyway"

"Wait, who's first impression?" TK asked, "Ours or his?"

"Hold on, where is that voice coming from?" Veemon asked startled, "And how do you know my name?"

"I think the new guy just lost it." Davis whispered shielding his mouth from Veemon with his hand – poorly.

"I can hear you, dip-shit" Veemon said, "I'm right next to you"

"Right" Izzy said, "I am... well, this groups coordinator so to speak. Their supervisor, if you will. I'm running this... let's call it 'operation' in the human world and with my computer I can communicate with everyone here. And since Davis here - the moron is called Davis - by the way"

"Hey!" Davis said angry.

"Since he touched you, I was able to add you to the conversation, too."

"You're talking to us, as if you were a voice in our heads... from another world?" Veemon asked baffled, "That's kick-ass! How are you even doing this?"

"It's not exactly easy to explain."

"At least there's someone competent here..." Veemon said relieved,  
"Still, that dumbass can't be my partner! This is all wrong! I used to be serious!"

"Looks like 'used to be' is the key phrase here..." Tai said unimpressed.

"Fuck off! I saved the world, back in the day!"

"Well, join the freaking club. We saved both worlds, you know. Our world _and_ yours."

"Hey, up yours, crows nest! As if there's only two worlds..."

"The fuck did you just call me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! _My condolences!_" Veemon said with a fake empathetic tone, "I know you're probably still grieving for your hairdresser, but come on! It's been - what? Ten years? You gotta move on, man!"

"Okay, you asked for it! Agumon, roast his ass" Tai said furious,

"And I mean that literally!"

"Uh, no man, seriously... let's not do that... that's not a good idea..." Agumon said, nervously taking a step back.

"What's your problem?" Tai asked, "You're just gonna stand there and take shit from that fucking smurf?"

"No, dude" Veemon said half laughing, "You got it wrong: Right now _you _are taking shit from me! I mean, coming to think if it, shouldn't you be used to it by now? You know with all the bird shit you take everyday?"

"Oh, you're really proud of that one, huh?"

"Nah, man that one was easy. I'm just warming up!"

"You really wanna let him keep talking shit, like that, Agumon?"  
Agumon hesitated.

"Go on..." Veemon said threatening, "Bring it!"

"Look, Tai" Agumon sighed, "He's a Veemon. Their headbutts are - infamous, man"

"Their headbutts?" Tai asked skeptically.

"Yeah! I'm not joking! Get hit by one of them and you are done for! I don't care who you are..."

"You better listen to your pal, there" Veemon said grim, "Unless you wanna take care of an egg for the next two weeks!"

"We'll see about that, blueberry!" Tai countered

Veemon blinked.

"What?"

"I was thinking of another insult with blue, it... didn't work out so well..."

"_No kidding._" Veemon said, "Still waitin', by the way"

"Oh, yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, people" Izzy stepped in, "Why don't we all calm down? We haven't even introduced ourselves yet. Let's try not to kill each other before we know each others names, okay."

"Fine!" Veemon said mildly annoyed, "What's your name, supervisor?"

"You can call me Izzy. No shit-talk toward me, though. I know how to hack this place, so you _will_ regret it."

"Yeah! You tell him Izzy-Senpai!"

"Don't worry man." Veemon said, "I got mad respect for you already! Also, what's your deal, four-eyes?"

"Uh, what?"

"What'cha doing here? Shouldn't you be in the human world, sucking Izzys dick?"

"_Excuse me?_" Yolei asked indignantly.

"Fuck! Does this count as talking shit to you, Izzy?" Veemon asked.

"I'm on the fence about that..." Izzy said calm, "Let's see how you'll do, moving forward..."

"Okay..." Veemon said, "Yo, four-eyes!"

"My name is Yolei."

"Whatever. Where'd you get those glasses from? You do realize, that place where you can buy these fake wands and wizard hats, is not where you usually buy glasses."

Yolei looked at her feet, frowning.

"Don't just let him talk to you like that!" Kari said nudging Yolei's arm with her elbow.

"I'm just - " Yolei said, before pausing, "scared he'll headbutt me, if I talk back..."

"Good call" Veemon said.

"Also I _do_ like 'Harry Potter'..." she added quietly.

"Hey, other chick."

"It's Kari." Kari said crossing her arms.

"Okay" Veemon said, "Nice haircut."

"Oh - well... thank... _you?_"

"Don't mention it. Ran with a kid, back in the day, who had the same." Veemon said - before cracking up, "The dude was kind of an asshole, though!"

"Oh, god dammit..."

Once he had stopped laughing, Veemon looked over to TK.

"I... I don't - I'm sorry but I... don't really have one for you yet blondie." Veemon said, "Eh, but give it time. I'll think of something."

"Cool..."

"How about St. Anger?" Tai said.

"The fuck does that mean?"

"Never mind..."

"Also, why did you bring a cardboard-cutout of a kid with you? What's up with that?"

"Seriously?" Gatomon asked, "You're just gonna walk around and roast everyone who look's at you funny?"

"Well, I only planned on roasting these kids, but sure." Veemon said, "If you want some too, be my guest! I'm on a roll!"

"_Tread. Fucking. Lightly. Bitch!_" Gatomon hissed.

"So, what level are you?" he asked, "Without that tail ring you guys usually have, I mean. Is it like egg or..."

"Tell me: You want me to kill you fast or slowly?" she asked, "At this point I'm still willing to give you a choice..."

"Right!" Veemon laughed, "I wanna see you try! You even learn how to walk yet?"

"I'm standing on two legs, you fucking idiot!"

"Well, try putting a damn scratch on me, before I smash your head like a fucking pumpkin!"

"They don't call my main move 'Lightning Paw' for nothing!"

"I said: _no killing each other!_" Izzy said harshly.

"Yeah, but you also said, as long as we don't know each other" Veemon argued, "What do you call that cardboard cutout?"

"I'm Cody."

"See? Now I know everybody!" Veemon said triumphant, "I know he is a bitch-ass Agumon, I know she's a bitch-ass Gatomon - in both ways by the way. I mean, you're pretty much a bitch and you probably fight like a little bitch now, too."

"Yeah, just go on, but remember one thing" Gatomon said, "At some point you gotta go to sleep... and I'll be there when you do..."

"I can respect that" Veemon said, "At least you embrace it!"

"_FUCKYOUI'LLSLIDYOURTHROAT!_"

Kari reacted quickly; she grabbed Gatomon and picked her up in order to stop her.

"Let go!" Gatomon shouted, "I may be weakened, but I can still gut him like a fish!"

Veemon burst into laughter again.

"That's fucking hilarious! Seriously though: why can't I kill anyone here? I know their names, I know who these two are. And he's a Patamon, right? Dude, are you stoned or why are your eyes bloodshot, like this?"

"No... I was just so... happy to see TK again!" Patamon sobbed.

"Holy shit!" Veemon said, now laughing hysterically "Hey blondie, I got something for you now! Want some privacy, you two? Wanna take a room or something?"

"You son of a - !" TK said before storming towards Veemon - only to be stopped by Yolei.

"_Don't! He'll kill you!_"

"Oh, man! Thanks for the ammo Patamon!" Veemon giggled, "I owe you, man!"

"Oh, my god! Can we just focus on the mission again?" Kari asked frustrated.

"Wow, anyone but me cares about the mission for once" Izzy said dry, "Never thought I'd see the day..."

"You see, sis?" Tai said, "This is why everyone knows you're the new kid instantly: That's our group dynamic! Just get used to it already!"

"You blame everything on the group dynamic!" Kari said, "'Tai, your constant napping is gonna kill us all eventually' 'I'm contributing to the group dynamic! _Get off my back!'_"

"Oh, god dammit!" TK growled suddenly, "I just realized: Since Goggles 2.0 over here -"

"Still too long" Izzy said.

"Dammit - what about just 'Goggles'?"

"Because that's not confusing at all..."

"Fine!" TK said angry, "Anyway, since he picked up the egg, does that mean, on top of being stupid, he's lazy like Tai, too?"

"Why would that be a thing?" Veemon asked.

"Because it's Tais crest."

"Yeah, so?" Veemon argued, "That just means they're both courageous. Or - maybe the system mixed up 'courage' with 'throwing yourself into danger because you're pretty much brain dead'..."

"What do you mean courage?"

"That's the name of the crest, genius."

"Uh no, it's not" Kari said, "My brothers crest is 'sloth'."

Veemon stared at her.

"We're talking about the same crest, right?"

He walked over to the crest of sloth/courage engraved in the wall.

"That was on the egg, wasn't it?"

"Yeah" TK nodded, "The crest of sloth."

"No, you idiot!" Veemon said annoyed, "That's not even a thing!"

He looked around. Then he pointed at the next crest on the wall.

"What's that one called?"

"Oh that one's easy!" TK said confidently, "That's 'lust'."

"_It's 'love'!_ Just look at it, it's a fucking heart!"

"Yeah, guess what: That symbol fits 'lust', too." Tai stepped in.

"Okay, what about that one?"

"Greed." Tai, TK and Kari said simultaneously.

"It's a freaking plus-sign" Tai added, "What do you expect?"

"No! You got everything backwards! That one's - actually I'm not to sure... It's either sincerity..." he said before pointing at Mimi's crest, "Or that one is... In any case the other would be responsibility. Or something... those two are confusing... Anyway the crests are supposed to represent positive attributes. Not the fucking seven deadly sins!"

"Huh, you picked up on that fast." Izzy figured.

"Yeah! Because I'm not a fucking idiot!"

"Oh, well I'm... kind of used to that sort of company, by now..."

"I can see that" Veemon said.

"Okay, smart ass!" Tai said, "Then what are our crests actually supposed to mean?"

"Well, I already told you about half of them" Veemon said, "Let's see..."

He pointed at TK's crest.

"That's hope"

"I mean I can kind of see that..." TK said shrugging, "I feel like I'm an optimist"

"Sure" Tai agreed, "Not as fitting a wrath though..."

"Touché"

"Over there's friendship" Veemon said looking at Matt's crest.

The original Digidestined and their partners laughed out at once.

"Are you sure about that one?" Tai asked out of breath, "I mean the others I can get behind but - oh, wait there's Joe... never mind..."

"Uh... okay" Veemon said puzzled, "Anyway the glasses one means knowledge - "

"Aw, what the hell?" Izzy said, "That crest would have been perfect for me! I would have been in tune with it, right away!"

"Glasses?" TK asked squinting his eyes, "Oh, yeah! Now that you say it, I see it, too! I always figured it was some kind of weird, abstract scales symbol..."

"So, wait: Izzy has gluttony then?" Veemon asked.

"Yeah, don't you hear those crunching noises every now and then?" Tai said, "He's, probably snacking chips, right now."

"Dude, don't take this the wrong way, but I gotta ask: What do you like?"

"I'm not fat, if that's what you're asking." Izzy said dismissively, "Excessive mental work burns just as many calories as physical work does."

"I still don't buy that..." Tai murmured.

"Well, obviously it doesn't work for you since you are... not as much of a thinker..."

"You could have phrased this much worse, am I right?"

"You are, Tai. And I assume that's what the soccer is for, seeing how you wouldn't fit through doors without _some_ sort of workout."

"No, it's because I like it!" Tai argued, "I don't mind sports if it's fun. Soccer is awesome man!"

"Can we wrap this up?" Veemon said impatiently, "So, the one above the door is called 'light'"

"Wait, what?" Kari said perplexed.

"_What_, is yours darkness?" Veemon giggled, "Wait, seriously what is yours? There's only seven deadly sins."

"No, that's actually what my crest means! Mine's correct!"

"Why is she the only one who has something positive?" Yolei asked confused.

"Well, 'positive' is debatable" Veemon said, "What the hell does light even mean?"

They all exchanged glances, having no answer to his question.

"She used to glow in the dark, back in the day" Tai said shrugging.

"That was only once!" Kari countered.

"_Twice._"

"That doesn't count! I was possessed by god or something."

"I rest my case."

"Wait, hold up!" Veemon said, "That doesn't make any sense! Who told you about this? It was Gennai, wasn't it?"

"It's starting to make sense now, isn't it?" Izzy said.

"I mean, a little... Still, he might be backwards as fuck, but he has no influence on what the crests do. So for some reason all of you got the wrong crests - except for her? And they're not even really inverted!"

"Huh, that's food for thought..." Izzy said.

A crashing sound from the entrance of the cave. A Digimon looking like a giant red bug with enormous pincers tried forcing its way through the gap in the rock, which was too slim for him to fit between.

"That ain't good..." Tai said, realizing they were trapped.


	3. The One who Inherits the Goggles

-x-

**Chapter Three**

**The One who Inherits the Goggles**

"Kari stand still" Izzy commanded, "Or hold the camera stable"

"Oh, sure" Kari said putting a hand on her camera.

"Oh, look at that, Kuwagamon" Izzy said calm, "Day of callbacks, eh?"

"See? I told you!" Tai said pointing at Kuwagamon "He has one of those black rings, I talked about!"

"You mean the ones that make Digimon - what was it you said? 'All aggressive and shit'?" Izzy asked.

"Pretty much"

"Not too sure, if he's a prime example for that theses"

"Huh?"

"Izzy is right, he's always been kind of an asshole" TK said.

"Yeah, he's not exactly acting out of character" Kari added.

"Oh, okay, got it..."

"Hey, looks like you know this guy -" Veemon started, but was interrupted by Tai:

"What gave us away?" he scoffed, "I mean, you can tell we run into this dipshit constantly, if even my sister knows him!"

"Sure, whatever" Veemon said dismissively, "Still, that reminds me: How did you know my name? I mean, you told me you're their supervisor and all, but that doesn't explain much..."

"True, but I also told you, I could hack this place." Izzy said, "My computer runs a program called 'Digimon-Analyzer'."

"Holy crap! I didn't even know something like that existed!"

"Doesn't surprise me" Izzy said, "I made it."

The group fell silent for a second.

"Dude, you started using it day two..." Tai said incredulously, "We all assumed you downloaded it or something."

"Download it from where?" Izzy asked, "_The Digital Internet?_ I felt like a demigod in here, thanks to human technology - even back then! I swear our technology is leagues ahead of this world - _And this is called 'the Digital World'!_"

"Okay, got it" Kari said hectically, "None of us should ever double-cross Izzy. Go figure. Now, how do we deal with our old friend here?"

"Oh, now you're pushing it" Tai said, "You don't know him that well. Also: duh! We digivo- oh, shit that's right... Oh, but we have Gatomon - _crap!_ Forgot about the tail-ring"

"Let me get this straight" Veemon said, "The only Champion-level Digimon on your team is basically a toddler -"

"Fuck off, cunt!"

"And the rest of you can't fucking digivolve? _Man,_ you guys suck!"

"Hey, asshole! The digivolving part isn't our fault!" Tai said.

"How do you know?" TK asked, "Maybe _you_ just suck. Patamon? Let's kick his ass!"

"Oki doki!"

TK pointed his Digivice at Patamon.

"_Patamon digivolve toooooo..._"

Nothing happened.

"Wait, no..." Patamon said, "Maybe if I spin around..."

Patamon started flying in circles.

"Yeah, so like I said, you suck." Veemon said in passing, "Now what?"

"It's not our fault!" TK shouted, "It's like we're being blocked or some shit!"

"Oh, _now_ we're being blocked!" Tai said grumpy, "When it was just me, it's because I suck, but when it happens to you, too - oh, wait that actually makes a ton of sense - I'll just... shut up now..."

"Looks like we now know what those black obelisks are for." Izzy said, "Most likely at least..."

"Oh, shit! You're right!" TK said.

"What black obelisks?" Veemon asked.

"You'll see when we get outside" TK replied.

"_If_ we get outside!" Kari corrected, "What's the plan?"

TK opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted, when a purple light flashed up before Kuwagamon's face.

"COVER!" Veemon yelled.

Everyone ran for the sides of the cave just as Kuwagamon's energy blast flew straight through the room, hitting the crest of courage, destroying the engraving in the process.

"_Since when can he do that?_" Tai shouted.

"Maybe that's what the rings do" TK said, "Give 'em new moves. Or maybe if they are_ already_ assholes they give them energy blasts, instead of turning them into assholes."

"Actually, he _did_ always have that move." Izzy pointed out calmly, "I always wondered what the hell _'Face Melting Shears'_ was supposed to be... Guess, we know now. Still no clue, why they never used it, though."

"Well, who cares?" Tai said, "Bottom line is, we're even more boned, now!"

"Yup" Gatomon said, "If we had at least one of us outside, our chances would be... well, for starters, we'd actually _have_ chances!"

"Wait" Agumon said to her, "What about your crew? Didn't you say, you lost 'em in the forest somewhere?"

"Oh, yeah? And how would they find us? They don't even know where we are. Plus, I didn't loose them, they _abandoned _me, _the second_ shit started hitting the fan, in the woods. Cowards..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa" TK said confused, "How about we start at the beginning: Your crew?"

"Oh, that's right, you don't know, yet!" Gatomon said almost amused, "Once you guys left this world, our group kinda fell apart."

"Huh" Izzy said, "That kind of reminds me of something..."

"Either we kept loosing each other or some of us just took off on their own. And since I always worked with other Digimon, I figured I'd get myself a new team. I wandered around and recruited some other Gatomon and Salamon. You know – since we're basically related and stuff. Also, each of them was either weak or dumb, so I figured they could be easily taken advantage – _I mean,_ convinced to follow me."

"You went out recruiting, weaker Digimon?" Tai asked skeptically, "You mean like back in the day, when you worked for Myotismon?"

"Essentially"

The original DigiDestined all looked at her, eyebrows furrowed.

"_What?_" she said defensively, "Old habits die hard! So, yeah, long story short, when I heard of the whole deal with the black rings, I tried finding the rest of the regular crew with them, that's how us three eventually met again. But then, in the woods, all hell broke loose, one of us got turned, I lost my tail-ring, and when we couldn't shake our attackers on the way here, they went 'Well, every Digimon for themselves!'. But – obviously with less confidence and more sobbing and weeping. I hindsight they were all pretty lame, so my guess is they're all either dead or turned at this point, so... fuck it."

She shrugged, finishing her story.

"How about we talk plans?" Veemon said, "You know: _useful shit? _One of you draw his fire, then I'll go in and headbutt him. Once I hit him, I can slip outside -"

"What a hero..." Tai said dead panned.

"- then I can keep him _distracted _from the outside, so _you_ can get out! Once he's concussed after I hit him, he should have a hard time hitting me. I'm pretty fast."

"Sounds like a big 'if'." Izzy said.

"Yeah, dude. You're gonna die in like two seconds." TK added.

"Screw it!" Gatomon said grim, "I'm way faster than any of you. I'll handle the distraction."

"Gatomon, no!"

"Kari, I know I'm not as strong as I used to be. But I'm still fast enough, to keep this stupid bug busy! Plus I'm not an idiot. I won't let him kill me, so don't worry about me!"

She calmly walked to the middle of the room.

"_What are you doing?_" Kari asked with notable panic in her voice.

"No need for you guys, to draw his fire" she answered winking at Kari.

As soon as Kuwagamon fired, Gatomon jumped forward diagonally, dodging the shot and simultaneously getting closer to Kuwagamon. She reached the entrance, before Kuwagamon had a chance to fire again. She slid through under him and jumped up behind him. Before Kuwagamon could even react properly, Gatomon had already sprinted along his back toward his head using all of her momentum she struck his head with her lightning-paw - not even causing him to flinch.

"_Shiiit..._" she groaned.

Kuwagamon spun around hitting her with one of his arms, sending her flying. They lost sight of her, once she passed the top of the entrance.

Seeing this, Veemon collapsed to the floor; Gasping for air he rolled around, laughing hysterically.

"_I - I can't! J- just give me - give me a minute!_"

Kari, on the other hand, now really started to panic.

"Oh, my god!" she said tearing up, "_Oh, god no!_ Izzy where is she? _Is she okay?_"

"Hard to tell" Izzy said, "Since she has no Digivice her blip vanished when she got too far away from you. Last time I saw her blip, she was still moving pretty fast. So my guess is she flew way into the forest."

Veemon started cackling even louder.

"No! We need to help her!" Kari said desperate.

"You need to get outside first..." Izzy said contemplating.

Kuwagamon fired another energy blast, but this time he only hit the side of the entrance. A few rocks came loose and fell to the floor.

"Ha! What a horrible shot!" Tai laughed, before nudging Agumon's shoulder, "Look at that, man. He might be worse than you are!"

"Yeah yeah, blah blah blah..." Agumon said annoyed.

"Tai, you might wanna look again." Izzy said, "I assume he did that on purpose."

Kuwagamon hit the side of the entrance again. More rocks fell off, making the gap larger. Bit by bit.

"Oh, shit..." Tai murmured, "Izzy, a plan would be nice!"

"I had one but that would take too long. Let me think..."

"Well, our rookie-levels managed to kill champion-levels before." TK said.

"No killing!" Yolei shouted.

Veemon's laughter died down. Breathing heavily he got back upon his feet.

"What's her deal?" he said, now that he was done laughing at Gatomon's failure.

"Oh, yeah she has this weird no-killing policy" TK explained.

"_It's called being a good person!_"

"Just go along with it. We kind of need her for the mission." he added.

"Oh, my god!"

"Come on now!" Tai said, "We don't like it either, but we need to work together here"

"Ugh! _Fine!_"

"Okay, now how about this: They could probably _defeat_ him" TK said looking insistently at Yolei while saying 'defeat', "Right?"

"Yeah, but last time they pulled that off, it was all of them together." Tai argued, "I doubt 'boom-bubble' and 'pepper-breath' would do much against this prick."

"Separately not, I agree" Izzy said, "However 'boom-bubble' is basically compressed air and since oxygen feeds fire, merging both moves should enhance -"

"_Izzy, we are about to die!_" Tai yelled, just as Kuwagamon broke more rocks off the entrance, "_Speak English!_"

"You know the phrase 'fanning the flame'? Do that! Patamon use 'boom-bubble' to fan Agumon's flame."

Veemon started giggling again.

"_What?_" Izzy hissed.

"You sure, you wanna phrase it like that, man?"

"Shut up, you're not helping."

"Okay, sounds like a plan" Tai said, before adding: "to get out. But then what? You think we can outrun him?"

"It depends. If you can run as fast as sixty miles per hour, you _could just_ make it."

"_Izzy that's not funny!_" Kari said, now almost hysterical.

"I wasn't joking."

"We gotta help Gatomon! _Now!_" she cried.

"Give it a rest." Veemon said, "There's no use. When you go into the woods, look out for an egg."

"_Shut up!_" Kari sobbed.

"Yeah, shut the fuck up!" Tai said putting an arm around his sisters shoulders, comforting her, "Unless you got a damn plan or something useful to say!"

"_Gee,_ I don't know! How about using the damn egg!"

"The egg?"

"Yeah! The freaking artifact I was buried under! The one with your crest on it. How about using things with fucking crests on them? They're used for some sort of special Digivolution called Armor-Digivolution."

"Well, since regular Digivolution doesn't work, this might be our best shot." Izzy said, "How do we use it?"

"Easy" Veemon said, "Brainiac over here picked it up, right?"

"Yep" Izzy said, "I already don't like where this is going... Also, see TK? That's a good nickname."

"All he needs to do is hold up the egg over his head and say 'Digi-armor energize'."

"Crap!" Tai growled.

"What's wrong now?" Veemon asked.

"Davis' D-Terminal fucking absorbed the egg." Tai said.

"Also, who comes up with these stupid phrases?" TK added annoyed.

"For real" Izzy agreed, "Hang on, I'll access the egg on Davis' D-terminal."

"Oh, right. It's probably saved there, huh?" Tai said, "Also, what? He can't do it himsel- Yeah! I know! Don't tell me..." he added, realizing his mistake.

"Okay, Davis" Izzy said, "The egg should be on the display of your D-Terminal now."

"What?" Davis asked, while opening his D-terminal, "How did you know?"

"Just hold it up and say the phrase, already!"

"What was it again?"

"Digi-armor energize" Veemon said.

Davis held up the open D-terminal, high above his head.

"Diga- no, hang on... Digi-oma... damn it!"

"Guys, you better hurry!" Tai said watching Kuwagamon now almost squeezing his way in.

"Come on, man! It's not a fucking tongue-twister!" Veemon said hectically.

"Okay okay, Digi-armor enegmi- no... Dig-armor... ugh... Digi-armor energ... energ... wait"

"_What are you doing?_" Veemon asked baffled, "It's not a hard 'G'! Come on now think of energy! It's derived from energy!"

"It's de-what?"

"Wow..." TK said dry, "This is not, how I saw my life ending... oh, well..."

"I'd rather kill myself than being killed by _fucking Kuwagamon!_" Tai said.

"Yeah, I never imagined any of us going out on a high note, but that would be just embarrassing..." Izzy said.

"Can't someone else do this?" Tai asked agitated.

"_No..._" Veemon growled, "It has to be him. The egg chose him."

"_Great fucking choice!_"

"Okay, okay let's do this step by step." Veemon said quickly, "Follow my lead alright? Digi..."

"Digi"

"Armor..."

"Armor"

"Energize"

"Energize"

"That worked better than expected..." Izzy commented.

"Now all of it together"

"Digi-ammo energize"

"At least he gets 'energize' straight now..." Veemon mumbled, "Come on now... focus! It's Digi-ARMOR"

"Digi-armor" Davis said, "ernergize"

"_Uugghhh..._"

"Yeah so, Kuwagamon is almost in." Tai said, "Fanning the flame?"

"Fanning the flame." Izzy confirmed, "Go for it."

Patamon and Agumon got in position aiming for Kuwagamon.

"Digi-armor energize"

"_Yes!_" Veemon said excited, "Now hold up the thing and say it again!"

"Digi-armor..."

He stopped dead in the middle of it.

"_No!_ What are you doing? Energize! _Energize!_"

"Energize!"

"Oh, fuck you! The moment's passed!"

"Agumon, Patamon! Go!" Izzy demanded.

"_Pepper-breath!_"

"_Boom-bubble!_"

Agumon's flame and Patamon's air bubble collided in mid-air while flying toward Kuwagamon. The fire extended into the bubble making it grow to more than double its size. The fireball hit Kuwagamon in the face making it crawl backwards and out of the cave again. He shook his head violently to get rid of the flames. Suddenly Veemon shot toward the cave entrance jumping head first into Kuwagamon's burning face. The impact shoved Kuwagamon away form the exit. The bug stumbled and fell on his side. The flames died down, but Veemon had broken off one of his pincers with his headbutt.

"Move! _Now!_" Veemon commanded.

"Oh, my god!" Yolei shouted, "Did you just destroy one of his pincers? You could have killed him! I said, don't do that!"

"Hey, I'm trying, okay?!" Veemon defended himself, "Now move!"

"Wait, were you trying to kill him or not to kill him?" TK asked as they sprinted to the exit, Kari up front.

"You know what's fun?" Veemon asked, "Trolling somebody so well, they don't even realize, it happened - Only to have some moron blurt out _'Wait a minute! _Did you just fuck with them?'!"

"Oh..." TK said, "Right, my bad."

Once they were out, Kari ran straight for the forest, before Tai had a chance to stop her.

"GATOMON!" she screamed, "Where are you?! I'm so sorry, _please don't leave me!_"

"Crap!" Tai said, quickly following his little sister into the forest - with Agumon closely following _him_.

"Did we just loose like half of our party?" TK asked baffled, "In like five seconds?"

"More like a third." Izzy said, "Still: talk about a downward spiral... just listen to our new best friends..."

"Come on, man!" Veemon shouted at Davis, as they joined the others, taking cover at the tree line, "Just say it! It's not that hard!"

"Digi-armour enginize!"

"_Digi-armor energize!_" Veemon shouted clearly far beyond what little patience he had left, "Take a deep breath and focus!"

Kuwagamon was now back on his feet and started cutting down trees in order to get to them.

"GO!"

Davis held up his D-Terminal:

"Digi-armor eneeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr-!"

"_-GIZE!_" Veemon yelled absolutely furious, "IT'S GIZE YOU COMPLETE IMBECILE!-"

"...gize!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Veemon ranted on, literally glowing with anger, "HOW MANY TIMES DID YOUR FUCKING MOM DROP YOU AS A KID?"

Now he was glowing completely white, even starting to float a few inches above the ground.

"ARE YOU ACTUALLY RETARDED OR DO YOU JUST HAVE A - oh, look that, I digivolved." he added surprised, "Oh, look at this armor, dude! That's bad-ass!"

"Eh, I'm not too sure about that..." TK said.  
Veemon had grown a bit, so now he was about six feet tall. He now had egg-shaped armor pieces on his arms, legs and one covering the upper half of his head, although this one was more triangular shaped, better fitting the shape of his head. The head piece had a large horn on top, which looked just like the one on the egg. He also had a chest plate and three claws at the armor pieces on his hands and feet respectively. The armor closely resembled the egg with the crest, having the same flame pattern. Otherwise his appearance hadn't changed.

Nor had his attitude.

"Oh, fuck you! You're just jealous! Now: time to kick some serious ass!"

"Wait a minute" TK said as Veemon sprinted towards Kuwagamon, shooting a fire ball from his fist, that hit the bug in the face, almost achieving the same effect as Agumon and Patamon's combined attack previously.

"I'm listening" Veemon said, "Seriously, keep talking! I can fight and talk at the same time."

"Yeah, so shouldn't you have said something like 'Veemon digivolve to -' well... what's your name now, anyways? Or is it just 'Veemon plus stupid armor'"

"Oh, right! I forgot! It's Flamedramon"

"Dude, that would have been the last name, I would have given you..." TK said unimpressed, "How about FlameEggmon?"

"Piss off"

"So you mean to tell me" Izzy said in disbelief, "That all the time you said cheesy crap like 'Agumon digivolve to...' it wasn't even a necessity, but some pointless crap you blurted out for no reason, instantly letting our enemies know what they'll be up against next?"

"Guess so" Flamedramon said shrugging, then rolling out of the way as Kuwagamon tried to stab him with his remaining pincer, "In hindsight it kind of felt like I should have said something... eh, but I wasn't really paying attention, so whatever."

"Yeah, it's... kind of like a sneeze" Patamon said, "When you digivolve you just feel like calling it out... I always thought we had to say it..."

"See, this is exactly why I never ask you about things related to the Digital World." Izzy said, "I suppose even Tai knew more about this world, within the first few hours, than you did, after several years of living in it! I assume the stupid attack-name-calling is entirely nonsensical, too, huh?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Flamedramon asked laughing, punching multiple fireballs toward Kuwagamon.

Izzy sighed.

"This might be a good time to remind you, that our camera ran off... I can't tell from the audio, whether you are using your official moves or not."

"Shit, that's right. How are Tai and Kari doing?" TK asked concerned.

"I'm checking in on their audio occasionally. So far, it's just a lot of heavy breathing and yelling Gatomon's name. Not exactly rewarding..."

"Out of context, that sounds really messed up!" Flamedramon chuckled. He punched Kuwagamon's chin from below sending him tumbling into the trees, breaking a few of them down in the process.

"What about the camera?" TK asked

"I shut off the connection."

"Why?"

"Because now it looks like a shaky-cam version of 'The Blair Witch Project'..."

"But that one's - _known_ for its shaky-cam..."

"You know what, TK? I'm with Veemon. Look up the fundamentals of comedy. I _guarantee_ you it'll change your life!"

Flamedramon dodged one of Kuwagamon's punches, grabbed his arm and as the bug pulled back, he took advantage of the sway landing on his back. Kuwagamon took off, but Flamedramon grabbed the sides of his head, jerking it around, causing him to fly into the side of the cave - head first. Dazed, the bug slumped to the floor.

"Alright" Flamedramon said cracking his neck, "say your prayers, _biatch!_"

"_No!_" Yolei screamed, "Don't kill him!"

"Shut up!"

"_No!_ Why is it always killing, with you people?"

Flamedramon aimed for Kuwagamon's neck but the Digimon spun around and punched Flamedramon off himself, hurling him into a tree.

"Crap!" he gasped.

"Ha! Karma! Serves you right!"

"Can somebody shut her up?"

"Hey, Cody!" TK said suddenly, "What do you think about this?"

Confused, Cody stared at TK before answering:

"Um... well, like I said: I think we shouldn't - "

"Shut up, Cody!" Davis, Yolei and TK said in unison.  
"_Jinxed!_" Davis and TK (who apparently had counted on this, to happen) added, just a split second later, pointing fingers at one another and Yolei, respectively.

Davis and TK exchanged completely bewildered looks, almost seeming horrified about just how wrong their plans went. Yolei, meanwhile looked devastated at first, but then quickly recovered from the initial shock and started looking around sternly, presumably for another soda machine. Her expression suddenly changed to pure horror and she stared straight ahead for a few seconds, before shaking her head vigorously while covering her ears - as if she was trying to repress a mentally scaring event, connected to vending machines...

"As much as I enjoy the sweet sound of silence, right now..." Izzy said, clearly in absolute bliss over the recent turn of events, "I doubt Cody would be a very good narrator... "

He sighed.

"Screw it: Takeru."

"Thanks for letting me wait dickhead..." TK murmured.

"Hang on" Flamedramon said, "How did that work again? Do nicknames count as saying their names?"

"No, just call him Brainiac. Her we call Wannabe." Izzy said.

"Okay, got it"

"Also, I can't see you right now, so maybe you're already on that but try hitting the black ring. It was around his neck, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, he's already working on that." TK said.

"What?" Flamedramon said confused, "No, I was trying to slid his throat!"

Yolei groaned frustrated.

"Or break his neck" Flamedramon added, "Whatever comes first."

Yolei groaned even louder.

"Noises really should count as talking" TK said shaking his head.

"Agreed" Izzy said, "Rookies! If you scream or grunt or whatever, by accident, that is fine. However don't do it on purpose, while you're jinxed!"

"They nodded we're in the clear" TK said.

"Splendid"

Flamedramon tried attacking Kuwagamon head on, but the bug shoved him away with his remaining pincer.

"Alright, that's it!" Flamedramon said annoyed, lit both of his fists on fire and stormed towards the insect again. He started throwing fireballs at him in a rapid fashion, but Kuwagamon took off, dodging most of the attacks. He flew in a circle and started firing purple lasers at them again.

"SHIT!" TK yelled running deeper into the woods, "Izzy, he's airborne now and he's firing purple shit at us again!"

Izzy didn't respond.

"_Izzy?_ IZZY?"

Flamedramon was also taking cover behind a tree.

"Why isn't he answering?" he asked leaning out of cover at every given opportunity, firing fireballs at Kuwagamon.

"I don't know! _What do we do?_"

"Gone for half a minute and all hell breaks loose!" Izzy said annoyed, "I'm back now, so would you calm down, already?"

"_Where were you?_" TK asked.

"I was talking to Tai and Kari" he explained, "Gatomon's blip is back on my map."

* * *

"GATOMON!"

"Kari, calm down! We'll find her okay?"

"I can't lose her!" Kari sobbed, "_I can't lose her!_"

"_Calm down!_"

"This is all my fault!"

"Here we go again..." Tai muttered, "How is this supposed to be your fault?"

"I was so horrible to her!"

"_Oh!_ You're right! _That's _why she decided to let Kuwagamon send her to the fucking moon! You had nothing to do with that!"

"Listen to your brother" Izzy stepped in, "It was her call, so let's stop with the blame game."

"Shut up, Izzy!" Kari said unnerved.

"No! _Listen!_" Izzy insisted, "I've got news for you: Gatomon's blip reappeared on the map."

"Oh, _thank god!_" Kari said incredibly relieved, "Where is she?"

"Turn to your right" Izzy said, "Pretty much ninety degrees. You should reach her shortly. Gotta go, people are yelling for me on the other end. I feel like a fucking babysitter..."

Kari immediately turned right, sprinting like hell.

"Come on now!" Tai said, "Let's just keep yelling her name... That seemed to work just fine."

"We gotta hurry! Gatomon?!"

Suddenly she froze. Tai heard it, too. A short, high pitched scream, followed by a noise like shattering glass; typically the sound of a Digimon dying.

"Sounded like a dying Gato- _I mean cat!_"

"_GATOMON?_" Kari screamed in panic.

"Kari?" a familiar voice said.

Gatomon jumped through the bushes ahead of them. She appeared to be unharmed.

"_You're okay!_" Kari said happy, running up to her partner hugging her tightly, "We heard a Digimon die and thought it was you! I'm so glad you're alright!"

"Yeah, that was weird, wasn't it?" Gatomon scratching her neck, "No idea where that came from – anyway, we should get going, let's move!" she added talking very fast.

"Okay..." Tai said confused.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?"

"Uh... no, not really" Gatomon said, "Well, the opposite actually. Look!"

She showed them her tail; a small golden ring, engraved with ancient runes now dangled from its end.

"No way..." Tai said in disbelief, "You _actually_ found it?"

"Yep" Gatomon said with a grin, "Looks like my luck finally turned around!"

"Oh... I'm so happy for you..." Kari said quietly.

Gatomon looked at her, disenchanted.

"You're still mad about the whistle, aren't you?"

"What? No! I'm just glad to have you back!"

"Come on, you would be over it, if I never found the ring again." Gatomon said, "It would've evened out the sides."

"Why are you doing this, right now?" Kari said, tearing up again, "I said, I'm sorry for what I said and I mean it!"

"Yeah, but you are clearly disappointed that I found the ring again."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are. Just admit it, it's okay!" Gatomon said soothingly, "I can deal with it."

"_I am not!_"

"Ugh, hike back's gonna be a blast, I can tell already..." Tai moaned.

* * *

"I can't hit him!" Flamedramon shouted, "How about a plan?"

"Oh, _forgive me!_ I suppose this is my fault!" Izzy snapped at him, sarcastically, "Serves me right, for thinking you could think for yourselves for ten seconds! We need to lure him to the ground again, so you can hit him directly."

"Yeah, okay we figured that much!" TK said, "At least - I did... Point is: How do we do that?"

"I got it!" Flamedramon said suddenly, "You guys run back into the cave!"

"_What?_" TK asked, "Are you crazy? After all we did, to get the fuck out of there?!"

"Eh, I can see where he's going with this" Izzy said, "Let him finish."

"When he see's you going in, he'll have to get to the ground, to get to you. Once he's there I can attack him from the outside."

"Okay..." TK said, somewhat uncertain, "But I gotta tell you: That clearing between us and the cave looks fucking huge, all over sudden..."

"Well, sucks to be you then." Flamedramon shrugged.

"Dude, seriously?"

"Of course not! I'll cover you once you're out!" Flamedramon scoffed.

"Remember, though: Their job is to draw him out." Izzy said, "If you intervene too soon, he might get distracted by you instead."

"Huh... yeah, I hear you." Flamedramon said, before turning to the rest of the crew again, shrugging, "You better run like hell then."

"You guys are dicks!" TK said, eyes narrowed, "Both of you!"

"It's only like fifty feet." Izzy said, clearly rolling his eyes, "You should be fine."

"Easy for you to say..." TK muttered, "On my mark, we run like hell! Ready... Go!"

They started running - except for Davis.

"What happened to 'set'?" he shouted, before running, too.

"Brainiac, you're not allowed to talk!" Izzy said harshly.

"Oops, sorry!"

"_Rookie!_"

Davis made a gesture as if zipping his mouth shut.

They sprinted across the clearing. Just as Davis reached the middle of it, Kuwagamon began diving toward them, firing at them again.

"Davis! Run!" Cody shouted as he and the others arrived inside the cave.

Davis jumped forward, but Kuwagamon's shot exploded, right behind him, tossing him and making him nearly land in his head. On the bright side, he was now almost in the cave. He got up, stumbling into the cave. Suddenly he reached up to his hair, gasping and spinning around; his goggles lay on the ground just a few feet behind him. He tried reaching them, desperately but TK grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him back inside. Davis struggled but TK wasn't having any of it:

"Stop it, idiot! It's too -"

Kuwagamon landed on the ground with such force, the ground beneath him exploded - exactly where Davis' goggles were.

"Yeah - that..." TK said, pulling Davis into the cave, who just went completely limb. Devastated, he stared at the spot where his goggles just vanished, unable to express his grieve verbally.

"Cover!" TK barked dragging Davis around the corner, before dropping him on the floor. He just remained there, lying on his back, blinking repeatedly and breathing heavily, clearly still in shock about what had just happened.

TK took a few deep breaths, then he turned to Cody:

"You said his fucking name! What is wrong with you?"

"Oh, that's right..." Davis said, still distressed, "I can talk now..."

"And you just reminded him, he can talk again..." Izzy said, "Can you _please_ stop, pointing shit out?! Clearly, it's not working out for any of us!"

"Who cares about the stupid jinxing?" Cody said, "He nearly died!"

"Good to know where your priorities lie, Cody..." Izzy said.

"Cody..." Davis said, "shut up..."

"There's your reward, by the way" Izzy said.

"Lesson learned, I guess..." Cody muttered.

They saw the purple light of Kuwagamon's attack flooding the cavern, but suddenly it was gone. It looked like it was knocked to the side. They heard Kuwagamon growling and carefully went to the entrance to peaked outside; Kuwagamon was on his back again and Flamedramon used the opportunity, rushing toward him from the side. He hit the black ring but didn't destroy it right away. Instead he literally bounced off and jumped at the same time using the energy of his approach to fly up high above him. He reached the high point and an aura of fire appeared around him. Once he came back down he shot two fireballs behind him and upward, in order to speed up his descent. With both hands he aimed for Kuwagamon's neck. He hit the black ring, shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Yeah! You hit it!" TK cheered.

"Dammit, I missed!"

"Wha-? Oh, you mean... yeah, sure..."

"Well, still got some juice left!" Flamedramon said, preparing for attack.

"No!" Kuwagamon shouted, who had apparently turned back to normal, realizing that he wasn't able to fight anymore, "No attacking! Me leaving!"

"No, that's not gonna happen, pal." Flamedramon said, shaking his head.

"Please! Me hurt!" Kuwagamon argued, backing off and pointing at his missing pincer, "Me don't want fight anymore!"

"Once you hatch again, learn our language!"

"Dude, let him go." TK intervened, "He's not a threat anymore."

Flamedramon hesitated, but when he turned around again, Kuwagamon already flew away.

"Crap..."

Yolei nudged TK's arm.

"What?" he asked turning to her.

She made a gesture as if she was blowing him a kiss, albeit with a rather annoyed look on her face.

"What... is that supposed to mean?"

"What?" Izzy asked.

"She just... I don't know it looked like she was blowing me -"

"He he" Davis giggled.

"- a kiss... or something. I don't know it looked kind of weird - Wannabe, I don't know sign-language! Stop it!"

"It means 'thank you', TK" Izzy explained.

"Oh! Now I get it! See, she still looked angry when she did it. That totally threw me off!"

"Guys, I'm still pretty pumped!" Flamedramon said punching into the air, "And I'm pissed, I didn't get to finish that sucker off. Just point me to something I can trash or else I'll just burn the forest down."

"I just thought of the perfect use for your remaining energy" Izzy said, "When you look away from the cave, turn to your left."  
"He he" Flamedramon said, a grin spreading across his face, once his gaze fell upon the dark tower next to the cave, "That's exactly what I was talking about!"

Without any hesitation he sprinted toward the tower, which stood a small bit away on another clearing with just a slim tree line separating it from theirs. He barraged the base of the tower with fireballs, shooting them through the trees. When Flamedramon himself reached the obelisk, he engulfed himself in an aura of fire again and jumped using every bit of force he could bring up, punching the base of the tower with both fists. The base exploded sending debris everywhere and making the tower tip and finally collapse.

"Booya!" he shouted, but then he started to glow and shrink. He got even smaller then before, apparently growing back into his in-training-form. He was now roughly half his regular size, only his head remaining similar in size to that of his rookie-level, albeit noticeably rounder. His arms and legs had shrunken down to little snags.  
"God dammit... I devolved even further" he said, "Oh, well. I think the tower fell on a Terriermon over there. Guess I got a kill count for today after all!"

Yolei rolled her eyes.

"So, you devolved to the in-training-level, huh?" Izzy asked, "Are you now DemiVeemon, by any chance?"

"Damn! That analyzer-thingy is good!"

"Guys!" somebody shouted.

They group turned to the forest where the voice came from. Tai, Kari, Agumon and Gatomon reemerged from the woods.

"Thank god, you're alright!" Kari said, relieved to see them all.

"Oh good, you found her" TK said.

"They sure did." Gatomon said, "But it gets even better: Look what I found!"

"Kari, camera." Izzy said quickly.

"Right..."

Gatomon dangled her tail-ring in front of herself, to show everybody.

"What are the odds, right?" she said grinning.

"Disturbingly slim" Izzy said incredulously, "Hypothetically speaking, if you would have died while being separated from your ring, would it have been disintegrated, too."

"I..." she hesitated, "guess so... why'd you ask?"

"Just curious..." he replied dry.

"Wait a minute" TK said, "Didn't Matt grab Etemon's guitar, because he wanted to keep it as a war trophy?"

"No, I don't think that happened." Gatomon denied.

"How would you know?" TK argued, "You weren't there."

"Yeah, but I was one of the guys Myotismon sent to spy on you. None of you carried a freaking guitar around!"

"Yeah, he didn't get to keep it, but it was still there, after Etemon died."

"Because it wasn't part of his body!" Gatomon said impatiently, "It counts more as a weapon."

"I don't think it does" Agumon said.

"Yes, it does! I'm pretty sure!" Gatomon growled, "I've been around a tad more than you! I think, I would know better, now wouldn't I? Plus, he didn't die, he just got sucked into another dimension. Remember? Joe told us."

"Yeah, I never listen to him..." Agumon said, "He's pretty boring..."

"So, anyway" Tai said, "What did we miss?"

"Oh, it was awesome!" Davis spouted out excitedly, "The dig-volution thing worked and Veemon became - uh... uh"

"Flamedramon..." DemiVeemon said.

"Flamedramon! Yeah, he got this sick looking armor with flames on it and shit! Then he beat up Kuwa... wa... -mon and he gave up because he knew he couldn't possibly win! Well, the other guy did, not Flamedramon..."

DemiVeemon shrugged.

"Yup, pretty much."

Kari looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"No, for real though, what happened?"

"I know, it sounds crazy but that's actually what happened." Izzy confirmed, "Very much dumbed down, but other than that, that's how it turned out."

"Huh..." she looked at Davis again, "Wouldn't have been my guess. What happened to your goggles?"

Davis froze. He turned and quickly ran over to the crater Kuwagamon created - only to drop to his knees.

"_No..._" he whimpered, his voice cracking. He picked up the mortal remains of his goggles with both hands and stared at them, as if he was about to cry. They were completely crushed and almost unrecognizable.

"Are they broken?" Tai, who couldn't see the goggles clearly from his position, asked.

"Yes..." Davis sniffled.

"Good" Tai said cold, "There can only be one goggle kid."

TK went to fist bump Tai, who accepted, but not without looking at him completely confused.

"What was that for?"

"'There can only be one'." TK said grinning.

"I don't get it"

"Highlander?"

"What?"

TK's smile vanished.

"Never mind then..." he said disappointed.

"TK, instead of quoting movies, how about you try digivolving Patamon again?" Izzy suggested, "With the tower gone, it should theoretically work."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure." TK said, "Patamon, you're up!"

"Patamon digivolve... Nope... still not working..." Patamon said disappointed, "aw, man..."

"So what? It's not the towers, after all?" TK asked annoyed.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, here" Izzy said, "we don't know the exact range of these things. There's a few more, less than a mile away from you."

"Shit..." Tai said.

"Well, I'm still around" Gatomon said, "and I'm all powered up again."

"Okay, so you can take down five of those?" Izzy asked, "In about twenty minutes? Because that's how much time we have left until the school will be closed. Actually let's skip the second part. Looking at the map, I know for a fact you won't be able to make it."

"Okay, then let's not take out all of them, then." Gatomon suggested

"Let's stick to 'none' for now." Izzy said, "Seeing how we'll probably need at least twenty minutes for the debriefing alone, and there's no tower on your way to the nearest TV -"

"There's a TV right here." Tai said, walking over to the treeline in front of where the tower stood, kicking said TV lightly.

"Huh, looks like, we should be on high alert, then." Izzy said dry, "The Digital World is acting _way_ too convenient lately..."

"Nah" Tai said relaxed, "I was just right, that's all. TV's everywhere."

"That is still inaccurate..."

Izzy cleared his throat.

"I'm kind of shocked to say this but - good job... I suppose..."

"Doesn't sound very excited to me..." TK mumbled.

"TK, I fully expected to be forced to open the debriefing process with 'That was acceptable, but in the long run you're all gonna die'. This mission went _unbelievably_ well, considering the - uh... crew we ran with. Speaking of which: Tai, Kari, Wannabe has been jinxed, just FYI..."

"_FYI?_"

"For your information, Tai."

"Oh. Um, which one was Wannabe, again?" Tai asked looking over to Davis and Yolei, "Was it him or her?"

"_Take a wild guess, Tai!_" Izzy hissed, "Was it A) the idiot grieving for his goggles, who's been babbling the entire time, since the moment you came back, or B) the nerdy, fan-girly idiot, who didn't speak a single word, up until now? Which seems to be _extremely_ out of character for her, I might add!"

"Yeah... I get the idea..."

"In any case... DemiVeemon, I think you have earned your place in our crew." Izzy said, "Which is more than I can say about most of our new additions combined... You came up with some good strategies, you really took charge and you delivered the best overall performance of any of my team-mates since... well - since Tai lucked out, picking a card... when he had to choose between two..."

"Eh" Tai shrugged, "I'll take it as a compliment."

"Can I add something to that?" DemiVeemon asked.

"It depends..." Izzy said cautiously, "Are you planning on giving any credit to Brainiac?"

"Oh, hell no!" DemiVeemon said offended, "I wanted to say the opposite! That it was all me, and I alone deserve to be celebrated for it. I went through hell, teaching him that stupid phrase, for fuck's sake!"

"Well, to be fair, the others made some decent decoys" Izzy suggested, "Other than that, I agree... ninety nine percent, because I do believe you guys started running around like headless chicken, the second I left to inform Tai and Kari about Gatomon's whereabouts."

"That's fair."

"Alright good job, every- no wait, let me rephrase this: Good job _DemiVeemon._" Izzy said, "To all the others... thanks for participating, I guess? Let's wrap this up, alright?"

"So, are you guys going back to the human world, now?" Gatomon asked.

"They have to" Izzy explained, "The timescales of both worlds are synchronized again, meaning we'd have to deal with missing child reports, all the time, if they were to stay. And that wouldn't be very productive for us."

"Can I come with you, TK?" Patamon asked, excitedly circling around TK's head.

"Izzy?"

"Eh, whatever. Take them with you."

"Awesome!" Agumon exclaimed.

"Not you, Agumon." Izzy said sternly.

"What? Why?" Tai asked eyebrows furrowed.

"Because he won't pass as a stuffed animal in our world." Izzy said, "That's a rule for all of you by the way: If your partner doesn't look like they could be a stuffed animal or a regular one like Gatomon, they can't come with you. Unless, of course, you handle it on your own. Because, I sure as hell, wont help you disguising them!"

Tai looked at Agumon.

"Sorry, man you gotta stay here, then"

"Oh, come on!"

Gatomon sighed.

"I'll stay, too."

"Why?" Kari asked, but she didn't sound nearly as worried about her partner, as she did, previously.

"She's got a point" TK said, "you can act like a cat and no one would get suspicious."

Gatomon hesitated, almost as if she didn't think of a good reason, when she suggested it. A split second later her eyes lit up though:

"Well, obviously we can't leave Agumon here on his own. He'll die in like ten seconds."

"Hey!"

"Agumon, nearly everyone in this world is trying to either kill or enslave us." she explained, "It really isn't a stretch to think that! And since I'm a champion-level by default, there's really no better bodyguard than me. We stick together and search for the others. We'll search for Tentomon first, Izzy, so you don't have to worry about him anymore." she added persuasively, probably in case he was against the idea.

"What do you mean, _'search for him'_?" Izzy asked dismissively, "I was about to give you his coordinates. I've been keeping taps on him, ever since we left, three years ago. He's fine. I just couldn't communicate with him. So adding him to the network, along with the others, eventually, sounds like a decent enough plan for me."

"Then how come, you can talk to us, right now?" TK asked scratching his head.

"All of your Digivices have been connected to my laptop at one point or another. I used that to create a permanent connection between them, to monitor all of you, at least in terms of coordinates. Since you're in the Digital World now, I can use that connection even more efficiently, and thus communicate with you."

The group stared blankly at Karis camera.

"You hooked up your Digivices to my laptop in the past, that's why I can talk to you."

A collective "oh" swept through the group.

"And why can you monitor Tentomon and none of the others?" Kari asked Izzy.

"Because he's always been connected to my Digivice." Izzy said somewhat impatiently, "I can hook up my Digivice right now... and... now I've got his coordinates. It's northwest of your position just follow the path through the jungle, the others came from, until you reach the desert. From there, head further northwest, you should see it pretty soon, on foot it's only an hour away from the jungle. The place is called... oh, for fuck's sake! _Temp City? Really?_ This world sucks! All those stupid PC related names... Now then, I think that's everything. Head back through the TV and let's call it a day. Tai, Kari, you drop by my place and give me your Digivices so I can use my program to keep an eye out for Agumon and Gatomon. Although, coming to think of it, bring me all of them. Yours, TK's _and_ the D3's. I wanna try to add some of the D3's features to the old Digivices. _No need for all of you to come to my place, though! _Just give 'em to Tai and Kari they live nearby. _No, Wannabe, I mean, that's not option!_" he added in reaction to Yolei, telling him, she had no problem coming to his apartment, in sign language.

"Now let's get going, school closes soon."

"Wait!" TK exclaimed suddenly.

"What, TK?" Izzy asked annoyed.

"We need a new leader or Izzy won't help us in the future!"

"I was hoping, you forgot about that..." Izzy muttered.

"Don't worry, man. I got this" Tai said confidently, "Our new leader will be... Izzy. Because who the fuck else."

"Tai, when I said 'we need a new leader because the old one sucks', I didn't mean, that I should be the new one. That being said, I appreciate the fact that you saw through my non-existing scheme. It shows that you're learning after all."

"What?" Tai asked, "Oh, yeah! That _would_ have been a sweet plan to get my position!"

"Yeah well, pick someone else." Izzy said.

"Wait, shouldn't we put it to a vote or something?" TK asked.

"Nah, I got another one..." Tai said, however, he sounded a little annoyed, "Don't really like it, though..."

"Sounds like a fifty-fifty chance to be a good one" Izzy said, surprisingly, "I mean your ideas usually suck, however there were also a few of my plans, you didn't like, albeit because you didn't understand them, which ended up successful."

"_Every_ plan, you come up with, is a success!" TK argued.

"Oh, yeah?" Izzy replied, "Remember the one that involved killing Myotismon? Call me a pessimist, but I still believe that didn't work out in our favor."

"Come on, man, don't be so hard on yourself." TK said.

"Hehe, _hard on..._" Davis chuckled.

"It's not like you _knew_, he'd come back!"

"Huh..." Izzy said, "You're right. If only someone informed us about a prophecy or something, _before _we killed that son of a bitch! I stand corrected; My plans _do_ always work - unless Gennai fucking sabotages them!"

"Well..." Tai said, taking of his goggles and walking toward Davis and DemiVeemon, who clearly joined him just to make fun of him, because of his broken goggles.

DemiVeemon softly giggled at the sight of Davis slowly rocking back and forth, while he was still on his knees. Once he noticed Tai walking over to them, his own goggles in hand, Davis cocked up his head, slowly opening his mouth in disbelief.

"No way..." he mumbled, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"I _really_ don't wanna do this, but I guess it makes sense..." Tai sighed, looking somberly at his goggles - then he walked straight past Davis and gave them to DemiVeemon.

Davis' smile collapsed, making room for yet another look of utter devastation.

Meanwhile DemiVeemon stared at the goggles in his hands.

"The fuck am I supposed to do with _those?_" he asked.

"Ugh..." Tai growled, "It's symbolic, you prick! It means you're the leader now."

"Wait" TK said, "_He's_ the new leader? He's a Digimon!"

"You got a problem with that?" Gatomon asked aggressively.

"Um... well..." TK started, frantically looking around, "No, it's just... I was just surprised, is all... We never had a Digimon as a leader..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought..." Gatomon mumbled.

DemiVeemon giggled.

"Look who came crawling back." he said smug.

"You wanna say that again?" Gatomon said challenging, dangling her tail ring in front of her face again, "_To my face?_"

"Since you put it like that... No, I'm - I'm good..."

"Not so tough anymore, eh?"

"Well, I'm not suicidal! When we were both basically rookie-levels I could have easily beaten you, but now? Now you'd fucking obliterate me! I'm not insane... Also, I don't need your stupid plastic goggles!"

"Come on, now! It's like me passing the torch, so to speak" Tai explained, "Since I'm retiring and stuff"

"You're retiring... _at age fourteen?_" Izzy asked in disbelief.

"Well, from being a Digidestined. It's not like we're getting paid or anything..."

"Yeah, no, I won't fucking wear these!"

"Hey, I need new goggles..." Davis said hopeful, "Just saying..."

"Rookie" Tai said through gritted teeth, "I'd rather flush 'em down the fucking toilet, than give 'em to you!"

"Here you go" DemiVeemon said passing the goggles to Davis.

"_Awesome!_" Davis exclaimed.

"Dude, what the fuck?!" Tai said angry.

"What? I thought they're mine, now. Well, I just decided I don't want them anymore. So I passed them on."

"That was my final 'fuck you' to Brainiac, before I retire, and you know it!" Tai hissed with narrowed eyes.

"Well, consider this my final 'fuck you' to _you_ then, crows nest" DemiVeemon said grinning, "Bye now! Won't miss ya!"

"Fuck this!" Tai shouted, "I changed my mind, he's not the new leader!"

"_Wah! He gave my goggles away!_" DemiVeemon said, imitating a whining baby, "_Now I'm mad, because I love my goggles so much, I wanna fuck them!_"

"In all seriousness, Tai" Izzy intervened before Tai could say anything, "That might the stupidest reason to take the leadership away from somebody, I heard in a while."

"You know what? I don't care then! Rookie, give me back my goggles! _Now!_"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" DemiVeemon stepped between Tai and Davis, "I gave him _my_ goggles! They seized to be yours, the second you fucking passed them over to me. Deal with it, bitch!"

"Why do you even care?!" Tai asked, "It's not like you give a fuck, whether that moron is happy or not!"

"No, but I sure love the idea, that you hate it."

"That's it! Let's see how well your fucking face can hold up against my foot!"

"_Everybody stop!_" Izzy stepped in, his voice now amplified, so it hurt their ears, causing Tai to stop his move towards DemiVeemon.

"Tai, let me handle this." he continued his voice now back to its regular volume, "DemiVeemon, good thinking there -"

"What?!"

"I said, let me handle this, Tai! We were searching for an alternative for my promise to Brainiac."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I needed to get the rookies to meet with us, without revealing any sensitive information to them. So I lied to them, making them believe there was an actual reward for coming. Long story short, they got upset, so I needed promises we could actually keep. Now we have Brainiac's. Good work DemiVeemon."

"But -!"

"Davis" Izzy resumed, ignoring Tai's protest, "I told you we would find something else. Not only do you have new goggles, now, you also have the exact goggles of the guy you - let's face it - copied from the very beginning. Win-win."

"In other words, he gets to keep my goggles, but needs to back off of my sister..." Tai summarized, "Okay then. I'm cool with that."

"_Aw, man!_ That sucks!" Davis said frustrated.

"Hand over the goggles, then" Tai said stretching out his hand.

"Um..."

"Again, they're not yours anymore" DemiVeemon said.

"Okay, okay. How about this, idiots: Davis, I wont stop you from going after Kari. However, there will be no guarantee, Kari will ever even pretend to care about you. You just keep the goggles" Izzy suggested, "_Sound good everyone?_"

"Yep" Davis said, "as long as I can still date her."

Kari groaned frustrated.

"Yeah, cool your jets, there. I also won't stop Tai from killing you, should you do that, just so you know" Izzy clarified, "_Can we fucking wrap this up, now?_"

"Yeah..." the group mumbled.

Yolei, suddenly went in front of Karis camera and started making hand signs in front of it.

"What's she saying?" TK asked.

"She wants to know, what about their partners. Hers and Cody's I assume..." Izzy translated, "Well, genius, we haven't got a clue where they are, now do we? Also we're out of time. Everybody, line up in front of the TV. Gatomon, Agumon you know where to go, try not to get killed, that would set us back at least a few weeks. Now hurry up!"

Hastily the group said goodbye to Agumon and Gatomon.

DemiVeemon looked at Agumon and Gatomon and then the remaining teammates heading to the TV.

"Eh, fuck it" he said shrugging, "I'll go to the human world, too. I wanna see what it's like."

Davis proceeded to open the gate:

"Open, gate to the Digital World!"

"Why does this even work..." TK growled.

"And why does it work like that both ways?" Tai added, when the TV actually started to shine a bright light upon them, idicating that it worked in deed.

And just like that, they were all gone again.

"Thanks for staying, by the way" Agumon said, "Didn't expect that from you, I gotta say..."

"Yeah, I came up with that pretty fast, huh?" Gatomon answered, grinning.

"Wait, what?"

"Eh, I'll explain it on our way to the city. Just keep quiet about my plan, alright?"

"Your plan?"

"Oh, yes..." she said, "This is a good one."

* * *

Just an hour later, an Airdramon landed near the cave. The aqua colored, serpentine Dragon had a skull for a face and red tattered bat-like wings.

Off its back jumped a young boy, not older than eleven. He had spiky black hair and wore a long dark blue cloak, as well as angular shaped, gold framed shades, with a strange symbol in the middle, resembling an 'M'.

The boy looked at the crater, where the black tower stood and grimaced.

Gritting his teeth he turned around looking at the battle damage in the area. He scanned the clearing, his focus being shifted towards the entrance of the cave, where the most mayhem had been caused.

He entered the cavern. Curious he looked around, at the crests at the walls, the damage caused by Kuwagamon and, most importantly the small hole that was all that remained, at the spot, where the egg was located.

"Man!" a voice said behind him, "They really caused a wreckage, huh?"

The boy turned around. There was a small worm like Digimon with green skin and purple eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he growled cold, "I flew in on Airdramon! How did you catch up so fast? Slimy little jew..."

"Don't be mad!" the Digimon said cowering, "I just wanted to see what happened! I mean, no one ever destroyed a tower before... so I... kind of stowed away on Airdramon's tail..."

"Ugh! Maybe the rings, _do_ turn them sort of numb..."

"So the tower was destroyed in a battle, that took place here" the worm said, "Not an uprising, after all"

"No, you maggot!" he barked, storming to the exit, "This was deliberate! The fight took place in and in front of the cave. The tower was too far off. They destroyed it before or afterwards."

He paused at the entrance.

"Here's what I wanna know: Obviously there was an egg in here. Where did it go? Did they take it? And more importantly: Why didn't I find it before?"

He fell silent for a moment.

"I wonder" he said, "Whoever fought here... Do _they_ know more about these things?"

He climbed onto Airdramon's back.

"Let's go!"

"Wait for me!" the worm shouted, hurrying to get to them in time.

"Eh, you know the way!" the boy scoffed as Airdramon took off.

"Oh, okay..." the small Digimon said, "I guess I'll... walk... then..." he added, watching the kid disappear beyond the trees.


	4. Easter Egg Hunt

-x-

**Chapter Four**

**Easter Egg Hunt**

"I'm not too sure about this" Agumon said, nervously glancing around the small tavern, he and Gatomon had just entered.

"You said you were hungry, didn't you?" Gatomon argued, walking to the bar, where they had a better overview of the venue, "Although, I guess that's a given for you."

"Yes, but shouldn't we go get Tentomon first?"

"You get your food, so you stop bugging me and then... we go get the bug. Huh, I didn't even plan on that one..." she added, "In any case, my contact is usually here around this time of day, so we have kind of a window, until the next mission."

"Yeah, have I mentioned that I'm not too sure about _your_ mission, either?"

Suddenly Gatomon stopped. A smirk spread across her face.

"There he is" she piped.

"What? _That guy?_" Agumon said incredulously, "No way!"

Sitting in the corner of the room at a small table for two, was Nanimon, a former minion of Myotismon. He looked humanoid but with a torso like a sphere (which was also his head) and very muscular. However, he was two feet tall, at best. He wore sunglasses and red gloves and boots.

"_No way_, I'm gonna talk to him." Agumon said slowly backing off, "I heard, he want's me and Palmon dead, ever since he lost his job at Myotismon's castle, thanks to us!"

"He's a champion-level!" Gatomon said rolling her eyes, "If push comes to shove, I can handle him. Easily."

"No, uh uh" Agumon said shaking his head, "I'm not going!"

"_Fine!_ I'll talk to him myself then!" she hissed dismissively, "Go get your food. I'll meet you at the bar, when I'm done."

"Sounds good" Agumon said, immediately jumping onto a bar chair before waving to get the bartenders attention.

Gatomon walked up to Nanimon's table.

"Well, look who it is!" she said smug.

Nanimon looked up.

"_Ah!_"

Immediately he jumped backwards onto a small cabinet standing at the wall.

"What do you want?!" he said raising his fists, ready to fight, "Stay away from me!"

"Relax, I just wanna talk!"

"Oh, yeah?" he said skeptically, "I heard you switched sides and killed Master Myotismon in the Human World! Why should I trust a filthy traitor like you?!"

"Excuse me?" Gatomon said, "_Filthy traitor?_ Help me out here, who of Myotismon's former employees was featured in that article in the 'Digital Times' titled 'Exposing Myotismon's dark deeds'?"

"Look, they offered me a lot of money!"

"What? Like a hundred bucks?"

"_No!_" Nanimon said offended, "I'm not that cheap!"

"Seriously though, how much?"

"Three hundred bucks"

"Yup..." she nodded, "Not _quite_ as cheap!"

"What do you want?" he repeated.

"I need some information, and I figured you could provide."

"What's in it for me?"

"Nanimon, we can do this the easy way... or the hard way" she added grim, "There's practically no work for you involved, since I know you're in the loop about this. So let's just sit down and talk this out. Calmly."

Nanimon hesitated.

"What's it gonna be? Do you wanna talk right away? Or do I need to make it hurt?" she added cold, pulling up a chair and pointing at the one at the other end of the table, signaling him to sit down as well.

Cautiously, he jumped off the cabinet and sat back down, not once taking his eyes off her, while she did the same.

"Here's the deal." Gatomon said, "You know your way around the organized crime networks of this place, right? If I recall correctly, you had a bunch of contacts, back in the day. That's where you got your recruits."

Nanimon nodded.

"Still have 'em. And not just Temp City."

"Right. Now" she said leaning forward, "Didn't the Numemon in this place have sort of an underground network going on, too?"

"_Sort of?_" Nanimon scoffed, "You mean literally!"

"Oh, yeah that's right!" Gatomon chuckled, "They sure love their sewers..."

Nanimon laughed, too, although it was more of a nervous laugh.

"Well" he said, "They call it a mafia, but – eh. Never met anyone who actually took them seriously. There's bad news, though. They're not operating in this city anymore."

"Damn it!" Gatomon cussed, "Still, by any chance have you seen a group of Numemon, one of them wearing a whistle on a pink cord?"

"No" Nanimon said, "And I would remember, because – they don't have females, do they?"

"I'm not sure actually..." Gatomon said contemplating, "The group, I mean, was all guys, anyway."

"Okay... weren't those guys super homophobic, too?" Nanimon asked, "Because that's why I can't imagine a Numemon wearing anything pink on them. Unless they have girls after all."

"Yeah..." Gatomon said disheartened.

"Well, how about some context?" Nanimon asked, "What is it about that whistle, anyways?"

"You see, I teamed up with those human kids, and the girl I got partnered up with, gave me that whistle. And back _before_ she gave it to me she saved a whole bunch of them from slavery. That was also the time she was glowing from time to time, for some reason. I guess they thought she was some sort of goddess or something - anyway they started worshiping her and -"

"Ah, Queen Kari. I heard about that, those guys wont shut up about her, sometimes... And they stole the whistle from you? Ha! Didn't we just talk about how they're always the butt of the joke? You mean to tell me, _you_, the former right hand Digimon of Myotismon, was taken down by some idiotic slugs?"

"You want me to squeeze the information out of your last fucking breath, then?" Gatomon asked fiercely, "I lost it, playing poker against them."

"_And you let 'em keep it?_ That little girl really turned you soft, didn't she?"

"The bar, we were in, was crawling with them!" Gatomon explained, "Have you ever tried fighting like fifty of those at once?"

"Yeah, okay I get that..."

"Now, come on!" she pushed, "Give me _something_ to work with, here! If they are anything like the mob, they have a boss who would wanna keep a sacred item like that. A headquarters? There's gotta be something like that!"

"There's a headquarters" Nanimon confirmed, "I just don't know where... But I do know a base of operations. It's near Dev Lagoon."

"Guess, Izzy was right..." Gatomon mumbled, "This world _does_ suck at naming places... Eh, it's better than nothing. Mind pointing me to the exact location?"

A few minutes later she returned to the bar. She looked around but couldn't see Agumon anywhere.

"Hey bartender." she said to the Digimon cleaning glasses behind the bar. He was completely yellow with a body shaped like an aubergine, his veins clearly visible on the lower half of his body and long vines for arms. He had a big mouth with sharp, pointy teeth and six red leafs with blue tips on his head.

"Vegiemon!"

"I heard you the first time" the Vegiemon answered grumpy.

"Well, thanks for reacting, then" Gatomon said snarky, "Where's the Agumon, I showed up with?"

"He went to the tables over there, by the windows."

Gatomon turned around, looking at the small tables by the window front, however she was unable to make out even a speck of orange.

"Nope" Gatomon said, "Not there. Where are your bathrooms? Maybe he's taking a leak..."

"_Bathrooms?_" Vegiemon asked skeptically.

"Oh, yeah that's right..." she said dry, "_Shit_, where is he?"

"He better be here" Vegiemon said, "He still owes me 30 DigiDollars for those dishes!"

"You see, this and the non-existing bathrooms, those are the reasons your customers don't like you."

"Because I demand money, for the food I serve?!"

"Actually, I was talking about your attitude, but - now that you mention it, yeah. That, too. People don't like paying money."

"Well, somebody will have to pay for that food!" he demanded, "And since you're his buddy, you're the next best Digimon, to do that!"

"Nah" Gatomon said turning to the door, "I'll find him and he'll pay you, next time we drop by."

"That's not gonna happen!" Vegiemon said threateningly and Gatomon heard a sharp metallic sound, like a blade being drawn.  
She turned around, forcing herself not to laugh, at the tiny kitchen knife he was pointing at her.

"You're not leaving, until I have my money!"

Gatomon looked at entrance again and sighed.

"Fine, whatever..."

And with that, she back-flipped onto the counter, kicking Vegiemon's head down on its surface when her feet came down again. Landing next to him she pressed his face against the wood, with one paw, while pointing the claws of the other one at his neck.

"Ah! _What the hell?!_" he shrieked.

The bartender struggled, but Gatomon said:

"Now, don't lift your head up, so quickly. You might end up stabbing yourself." she added, taunting him, "Here is what's gonna happen: I won't give you your money, but I will give you something more valuable."

"I... _What?_" Vegiemon said, the fear in his voice now replaced with sheer confusion.

"Unless, of course, your petty life isn't worth a single dime. In that case, I might have talked to soon."

"Oh, shit!" he yelled, "_Somebody help me!_"

"Yeah, good luck with _that!_" Gatomon laughed.

To Gatomon's surprise, someone actually did intervene.

"Come on, don't hurt him!" a male, albeit high pitched voice said behind her, "I mean he's kind of a dick, but he doesn't deserve to die!"

Gatomon sighed, glancing behind her. An Icemon had actually stepped up for least popular bartender in town. He was similar in size and level to Gatomon and Vegiemon, with a humanoid body made, entirely out of pieces of ice. He had two small ice pieces on top his head resembling bear ears and large yellow eyes.

"Look, we have two options here" she said, "Either he takes my offer and lives, or you get to loot his storage unit, for a week or two, until he reincarnates. Either way, you win!"

A moment passed.

"Yeah, fair enough."

"Wait! _No!_" Vegiemon screamed, now actively pleading, "Don't go! _Don't go-o-o-o-oo!_"

"So" she said smirking, "What's it gonna be?"

"_Okay!_ You and your friend don't have to pay me!" Vegiemon said, shaking, "I don't need the money! I'll be fine!"

"Huh" Gatomon said surprised, letting go of him, "I would have been okay with him paying later, but that's even better!"

She patted him on the trembling shoulder - or what passed as a shoulder.

"Pleasure, doing business with you!" she added grinning, then she turned to the rest of the venue, "See guys? He's not _that_ bad! Cut him some slack! Okay then, I'm out!"

She jumped off the bar and walked over to the exit.

"Oh, shit!" she mumbled turning around on her heels, "I almost forgot: Has anyone seen an Agumon? Came in with me, ordered some food at the bar. When I came back to the bar, he was gone."

"You mean the passed out drunk?" the Icemon from earlier asked.

"_Passed out drunk?_" she repeated raising an eyebrow, "We just arrived! _And he was sober._"

"Yeah, I was wondering how he got drunk so fast. But it was your friend. There was no other Agumon here and your two other friends carried him out after he passed out. They said he had enough for today and they're gonna bring him home."

Gatomon groaned annoyed, throwing her head back, realizing exactly what Icemon was too dense to see.

"Funny, I didn't realize, I came here with _three_ friends..." she said sarcastically.

"Really?" Icemon asked, still not getting it, "It was those Gazimon, who walked in, just behind you two. By the way, what's with those black rings people like to wear lately?"

"Ah, shhhhhit"

* * *

"Izzy, is that you?" Tai asked in disbelief, looking at the redheaded thirteen-year-old, standing in the door frame of the computer lab.

"No, it's his identical twin brother..." the boy replied rolling his eyes, "Found him after long last. Here you go." he added, handing him a small bag.

Tai looked inside; the bag contained the team's Digivices.

"Huh?" Tai said, having only expected, to get his and Kari's back, "All of them?"

"You think I'm gonna stick around?" Izzy asked, "I live five minutes from here, I'm gonna video-phone in, so I can mute you guys, whenever. On that note, I expected none of these PC's to work anymore. So, I had to make sure."

"Yeah, it was weird, the water was gone in like, two seconds." Tai replied, "You could literally watch your clothes dry – and not because you're bored. Digital Water, I guess?" he added shrugging.

"And as usual, you never felt the need to tell me, _when_ it happened."

"Well, as soon as we hit the floor, you basically yelled at us to get the fuck out – and to hide your webcam again... I half expected you to shoo us out, using the freaking PA system."

"Now, that wouldn't have been very stealthy, though, wouldn't you agree?" Izzy said, turning to the door, "Anyway, see you in... about ten minutes. I suppose, even now, I'll still be there before the rookies show up. In the meantime, you can hook up the webcam - fuck!"

Just as he reached the door it slid open; The rookies had just arrived.

When she saw Izzy standing in front of her, Yolei immediately blushed and started babbling:

"Oh my gosh, Izzy-Senpai! I'm so happy to _finally_ meet you in person!" she squealed grabbing his hand with both of hers.

"Oh, joy..." he said, "Sounds like you're not jinxed anymore... well, just – don't get too touchy." he added, roughly pulling his hand back.

"Yeah, well" she said, unfazed by Izzy's coldness, "My parent's laughed at me when I told them - with signs anyway - and then they said my name a bunch."

"Uh huh, I was about to leave, anyway. TK and Kari aren't here yet, so -"

"Hey, guys!" Kari chimed in, as she and TK had just joined them, "Izzy, you're here, too?"

"Unfortunately..." Izzy sighed, slumping into the chair at the desk.

He looked at the group, still standing in the door, somewhat uncertainly.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked not even trying to fake enthusiasm, "Gather 'round children..."

The crew entered the room, when suddenly a voice emerged from inside Davis' backpack:

"_Are we fucking there, already? Let me the fuck out, asshole!_"

Hastily, Davis opened up his backpack; instantly DemiVeemon jumped out of it, hacking and gagging, as if he had just escaped a gas chamber.

"I don't know what's worse" he grunted, breathing heavily, "The fact that it smells in there, like a fucking animal carcass rotting... or the fact that there is none in there..."

"We offered to carry you." Yolei said, "Like TK does with Patamon."

TK was holding Patamon in front of his chest, while the Digimon pretended to be a stuffed animal.

"I'd rather suffocate in there, than even being _touched_ by either of you _fucks!_"

"Well, that was definitive..." Izzy muttered.

"Are all of them so... _annoying?_" Cody asked, looking at DemiVeemon, who was still gagging occasionally.

"Oh, look who's talking!" Davis said.

"_My god_, you're such a fucking _moron!_" DemiVeemon said glaring at Davis.

"I'm still shocked, you went home with him, without threatening to kill any of us for it..." TK said.

"Well, I had already figured out, the occasional death threat would be enough to shut him up."

"I slept on the floor, tonight..." Davis said, looking at his shoes.

"Since we're all here now, let's get started, alright?" Izzy suggested, "We got a lot to do."

"Alright!" Yolei called out, clearly thrilled to bits, to be able to talk again, "What's on the agenda today Izzy-Senpai?"

"Searching for the remaining eggs" Izzy said.

"Oh, right!" TK said, "I didn't even think of that. Of course there would be eggs for the other crests, too."

"_You didn't think of that?_ Wannabe and Blank don't even have - you know what, forget it, let's just move on. Now, there's some good news -"

He was cut off as the door to the lab opened again.

"Ugh! What is it n- _oh, god!_"

Horrified, Izzy stopped in the middle of his sentence, when he saw who had just entered the room: A thirteen-year-old girl, with a slim figure and rather tall for her age. She had brown eyes and long styled hair. It was Mimi Tachikawa.

"Guys! Oh my gosh!" she cheered and immediately made her way around the room, hugging each of her friends.

"Mimi!" Kari said happy, although a bit taken aback by the sudden move.

"Hey, what's up?" TK said breathless, as Mimi's surprisingly strong hug had knocked the air out of his lungs.

"Okay, okay! We - don't need to cuddle!" Tai said when it was his turn, subtly trying to shove her off (he was still sitting down, so the embrace was extra awkward).

"That's not..." Izzy began, but she already enveloped him in her arms, "necessary..." he finished with with an annoyed sigh, "Whatever happened to America?"

"I read your e-mail, about the meet up and I was super bumped out, because I knew, my parents would _never_ allow me to fly on my own, but then my Dad was like, 'Hey, I got this business trip to Tokyo tomorrow' and I was like _'Perfect timing Dad!'._"

"So what, you said on his lap all flight? How did _you_ get a ticket?" Izzy said brushing off his shoulders.

Mimi took a deep breath, in preparation for her answer but Izzy quickly decided:

"Actually, you know what? Forget it! I'm sure it's a thrilling story - for another day... in like ten years from now..."

"Okay!" Mimi shrugged, still smiling widely, "Being here with you guys is all that matters!"

"Well, don't get too excited."

"Why not? _You're all here!_ That's _amazing!_" she said bouncing up and down, "I can't belie- wait, who are they?"

She looked over to the rookies, who had moved a bit out of the way, when Mimi busted in.

"That's right" Izzy said, "Mimi, these are our new rookies. Rookies, that's Mimi."

Mimi stared at them.

"So, the gang's _not_ all here!" she realized disappointed.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock" Tai said, "When was the last time, we were all together?"

"Yeah... it's been a while, huh?" she said quietly, then she looked at Davis, "Why does he have your goggles, Tai?"

"Ugh! Don't ask!" Tai moaned.

"Oh, that reminds me: Meet our new leader." Izzy said pointing at DemiVeemon.

"Huh?"

Mimi looked at DemiVeemon who had sat down on a desk by the window.

"_Aw!_ Who is the little cutie over here?"

"You wanna find out what happens, if you come any closer?" DemiVeemon asked threateningly, "Ain't gonna be pretty, I can tell you that much!"

"Oh..." she said taking a step back, "He seems... _nice..._"

"Huh, guess I wasn't clear enough then"

"At this point, I would like to remind you, not to kill any of our teammates." Izzy said, "And before you say anything: No, that fact that you know her name, doesn't change anything, about that!"

"So, Tai has retired then, huh?" Mimi asked, not at all surprised.

"What? No stupid questions, why I am the leader, now?"

"No, not really..." Mimi said shrugging, "Oh! Speaking of questions" she added before pointing at herself, "What do you think of my new look?"

Her long, usually brown hair was now died pink and she wore small gold colored plastic stars in it.

"You mean, that's _not_ ironic?" DemiVeemon asked – then he fell backwards onto the tabletop, laughing out loud.

Mimi now glared at him, filled with hatred.

"Sh-hit, that's amazing!" he cackled, before the laugh got stuck in his throat, "Holy shit, is it getting fucking cold in here?"

"It is..." TK said uncomfortable, "If you value your life, you better drop it."

"You're telling me _she's _doing this?!"

"Yeah, turns out, once you hurt her ego, the power of her crest kicks in" TK explained, "Things get... _weird, _when that happens..."

"How so?"

Tai spoke up:

"Last time, I told her, she looked horrible in the morning, I got a headache and I coughed up some blood, later on. I'm convinced, she wanted to kill me for like a month."

"Sounds about right" Mimi said grave.

"Okay..." DemiVeemon said uneasy, "I'm gonna stop then..."

"What? That's it?" Tai asked smug.

"Dude, I don't wanna have my internal organs liquefied!" DemiVeemon replied serious, "I'm still on the in-training-level, right now. Again: I'm not suicidal!"

"So, what's going on anyways?" Mimi asked, "Why's only Patamon here?"

Tai gave her a brief heads-up about the current situation in the Digital World and their most recent mission.

"Oh" Mimi said, once he was finished, "Why does he call them Jews?"

"The more appropriate question would have been, 'Why is Tai so _god damn fixated_ on this detail?'." Izzy argued, "But while we're on the topic of our most recent developments: Tai, hand out the Digivices."

Tai gave the others their Digivices back.

"Ooooh" Mimi said curios looking at the D3's, "New Digivices? They look pretty!"

"They're not" TK and Tai said.

"TK, Kari, my little experiment was, as far as I can tell, a success. I replicated the tracking feature of the D3 -"

"What's a D3?"

"The new Digivice, Mimi." Izzy said in passing, "Anyway, as I was saying, I replicated the feature and added it to your Digivices."

"Nice, you actually did it." TK smirked, "Then again, you usually do, so yeah."

"I was about to say..." Izzy said.

"What about mine?" Tai asked, "Did you add it to mine, too?"

"No, here's the thing: I was going to, but couldn't because I had to locate Agumon on the map. Looks like he got separated from Gatomon, for some reason."

"Oh, shit." Tai said worried, "Did you find him? Is he alright?"

"Yes, for part one, as for part two, I can't tell." Izzy said, "It's not impossible that he died and the Digivice is only giving me the current location of his egg. But his blip is moving around occasionally so it's more likely that he was taken... or his - egg was... for whatever reason..."

"Shit." Tai mumbled, "You sure about that?"

"Well, either that or he wondered off and got lost. Not impossible... wouldn't be _too_ out of character for him..."

"Yeah..." Tai agreed, knowing his partners horrible sense of direction.

"However, considering how far north he ended up, it's more likely he went straight there. Which would beg the question, why he would do that, if he wasn't taken... Maybe Gatomon has more info on that. Anyway, we need to find Blank and Wannabe's partners first, because Agumon might have been captured by our enemy, so we need to be prepared to fight that guy."

"Patamon says they call him the Digimon Emperor, by the way." TK informed them.

"No, he calls _himself_ that." Patamon corrected.

"Well, somebody is full of himself..." Izzy said.

"Yeah, that's a stupid name" Tai said.

"Yep... but the good news is, Gatomon has met up with Tentomon in the city. And they already made their way to the cave from the last mission. Speaking of which: Tai, when you were in the Digital World on your own, where was the TV you used to leave again?"

"Uh, in the jungle, I think." Tai said, "Yeah, I remember my Digivice started beeping again when I got near it, that's why I figured, I'd try pointing it at the TV. It wasn't far from where we arrived, when we went in together."

"Okay, that's what I thought. I can't quite confirm it yet, but when you enter the Digital World, you will most likely end up near one of the TV's, you already used to leave. I compared the data on all Digivices and figured, that's most likely how this works. So all that's left is to open the gate and hopefully you will end up near the cave. _Did everybody understand this?_" he added annoyed.

"Uh... no, not really" Davis said.

"Alright then, _moving on!_" Izzy said ignoring Davis, "Tai you're not going, if everything goes according to plan, we will reach the eggs first and - also Agumon would be way out of reach anyways. So you would end up being dead weight - literally this time."

"Thanks for that, man..." Tai said rolling his eyes

"W-wait!" Mimi said irritated, "What about Palmon? Where is she?"

"We don't know, Mimi" Izzy sighed, "Apparently our partners are just as bad at sticking together, as we are... So, it looks like we have no use for you right now, either."

"But we were with her in the jungle." Patamon cut in, "We got separated from her somewhere around the cave."

"Thank you, Patamon!" Izzy growled, "Unfortunately, we don't have time to search for her, right now. We know Agumon, might be in danger, there's no reason to assume the same is true for Palmon, though. Searching the jungle would just take too long."

"But couldn't we just plug in Mimi's Digivice?" TK asked, "That way, we could see where exactly... she... is... on the map..."

He slowed down, when he saw the look on Izzy's face; he looked like, he was seriously considering kicking TK and Patamon off the team.

"Awesome!" Mimi said, completely oblivious to Izzy's insistence, not to have her on the mission, before passing Izzy her Digivice, "Here! Ooooh... please be nearby. Please be nearby!"

"_Don't be nearby. Don't be nearby..._" Izzy muttered, under his breath, causing Mimi to ask:

"What?"

"What?" Izzy replied immediately, acting like he didn't know, what she meant.

He plugged in the Digivice, before opening the map of the Digital World. The map showed the area of the jungle with the cave. Izzy opened a separate program, presumably to show Palmon's blip. Instantly a blinking dot appeared - not even half a mile away south of the cave.

"God damn it..." Izzy said.

* * *

"This place has seen better days..." Tentomon said dry, looking around inside the cave of the armor-egg of courage. He was as big as Agumon, but he looked like an over sized ladybug, with his maroon colored body and green bug eyes.

He continued:

"Didn't you say, Kuwagamon never made it inside?"

"Yeah, about that" Gatomon said, "Did _you_ know, he can fire purple uh... _lightning?_ No... lasers? What do you call those?"

"I don't know..." Tentomon said, "…Also, no, I didn't know that."

"Plasma?"

"Uh... maybe? Well, anyway. Agumon isn't here, either."

"Eh, it was just a fleeting hope..." Gatomon said, "Honestly, I would have been shocked, if he was _actually_ here, since he was kidnapped and all... Whatever, we're supposed, to meet the others here, so it's not like we came here for nothing. They should be here pretty soon, too. Oh! Before I forget: Don't tell any of them about that little side mission, I'm on."

"Because then, they'd definitely know, that Agumon was captured, because you messed up?"

"I didn't fuck up, okay?" Gatomon said angry, "I thought the situation was fine, but didn't realize, we were being followed. I let my guard down, and that's how they got to him."

"You know what they call that?"

"Fucking up?"

"Essentially."

They heard voices outside, getting closer to the cave.

"Sounds like they're here!" Tentomon said, as he went to fly toward the entrance, but Gatomon grabbed him by the ankle.

"_Wait_" she hissed quietly, "We don't know if that's actually them."

"Oh... right, now what?" he whispered.

She gestured, for him to take cover at one side of the entrance, while she snuck to the other.

They leaned against the walls. She listened intently. Only one person of the group was talking, she couldn't understand what was said, but she was fairly certain, that she knew that female voice. She wasn't sure though.

"And?" Tentomon asked, who had much inferior hearing.

She raised one paw, signaling him to wait.

They heard their foot steps now very clearly; they were entering the cave. Luckily for them, a way more distinct voice followed, after the female babbled about something again.

"Oh, my god! _Can you shut the fuck up?_"

Gatomon relaxed her muscles, but as soon as the she saw who entered the room first, she shrugged and gave him a light punch with her paw – which was still enough, to knock him to the floor.

"OW! _What the fuck?!_"

"Ha! You got him!" Tentomon said excited.

"Gatomon! What are you doing?" Kari asked startled.

"What?" she answered relaxed, "I didn't attack him for real! Otherwise he'd be embedded into the wall... and probably dead. That's our new leader by the way." she added pointing at Veemon who just got up.

"Ah, ragging on the new guy" Tentomon said airily, "I get it"

"How'd you digivolve, anyway?" Gatomon asked Veemon.

"Back in the human world" Veemon said grumpy, rubbing the back of his head, "Everyone was like, 'Alright, let's go!' but Izzy reminded us, that I need to be a rookie-level so I can digivolve further. I swear, he's the only one who uses his fucking head for once!"

"Oh, that's right" Gatomon said, placing a paw on Tentomon's shoulder, "You got him, Izzy?"

"I got him" Izzy replied, "Hey, Tentomon, it's been a while."

"Izzy!" Tentomon said excited, "Your network is finally working, huh?"

"I wouldn't use the term 'finally'. Technically, it has been working for years now. I just never got to use it, until now."

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" Mimi exclaimed, hugging both Gatomon and Tentomon.

"Hey, Mimi..." Gatomon said, faking enthusiasm, "Why are you here, again?"

"I'll fill you in!" Izzy said quickly, "No need for her, to go on another rant... Now get going, we got a lot to do and we need to pick up Palmon, first. Out the cave and around it to the other side. I'll give you directions from there. While you're heading there: Gatomon? What happened to Agumon?"

"Oh... uh... I kind of lost him? Wow, I'm having a bad habit of losing stuff lately..."

"Tell me about it..." Kari huffed.

"Uh, well, we figured that much." Izzy said, "Any idea, what happened to him?"

"I asked around, looks like a couple of Gazimon with black rings kidnapped him."

"_God dammit!_" a voice in the background of Izzy's end said.

"Is that Tai?" Gatomon asked.

"Yes, he's staying behind with me, because guess what: he doesn't have a partner."

"Right..." Gatomon said, when they left the cave, "uh... that's unfortunate."

"While we're on that topic, how did _two Gazimon_ screw you over like that?"

"I don't know!" Gatomon said upset, "It was in the city, he was behind me, it was crowded... I guess they snuck up on us."

"But Temp City isn't that crowded." Patamon argued.

"Uh, yes it is." she answered annoyed, "Have you _been_ to Temp City lately?"

"Um... yeah?" Patamon said puzzled, "I met Agumon and Palmon there, before we headed to the jungle, where we found you. We told you about this, remember?"

"Well, it was crowded, when_ I_ was there!" she replied, crossing her arms.

"Thanks Gatomon, that would be all." Izzy said, "I think, I get the picture..."

"Are we close yet, Izzy?" Mimi asked impatiently and clearly excited, to see her partner again, as they arrived in the section behind the cave. The jungle was more dense here and there were no paths. The vending machines were absent, too. Instead there were some light bulbs hanging off the branches, some of them illuminated for unknown reasons.

"Mimi, I know your attention span isn't exactly mindbogglingly big" Izzy said calmly, "but you _do_ realize, I need your Digivice to pin-point her exact position, right? Which you have with you? And that Palmon probably isn't standing still? So, all I can tell you right now, is that she is theoretically in hearing distance. So yell her name a bunch that should -"

"PALMON!"

"Well, thank fuck for my compressor" Izzy muttered.

"MIMI?!"

"PALMON?!"

"_MIMI!_"

"_PALMON!_"

"You guys tell me when they are done, yelling each others names." Izzy requested, his voice sounding muffled, making it safe to assume, that he buried his face in his hands, "I just muted Mimi, now I'm adding Palmon to the network... aaaand she's muted, too."

"You didn't mute Mimi, right away?" TK asked.

"I can't mute you guys constantly... as much as I'd like to..." Izzy explained, "Unfortunately we _do_ need to communicate..."

"Well, I think you're safe, now" TK said, "Looks like, they're done."

"Oh, I missed you so much!" Mimi said squeezing Palmon in her arms.

Palmon was small, of a similar size as Gatomon, with a green plant like body and roots for toes. Her arms were flattened, giving them a leaf like appearance, and she had three purple claws on both of her hands. Her eyes were completely dark green and she had a pink flower on the top of her head.

"It's been so - wait a minute!" Mimi said, but the she stopped, holding Palmon at arms length, looking at her, "Where is my hat?"

Palmon didn't have Mimi's trademark pink cowboy hat with her. Mimi had given it to her as a goodbye gift, when the kids left the Digital World.

"I uh... lost it..."

"I can't believe it!" Mimi complained, "Why didn't you watch out for it? I _gave_ that to you!"

Gatomon shot Kari a look.

"So, how do you feel about yourself now?" she asked dry.

"I..." Kari said, who was cringing the entire time, watching the two, "Oh, my god, I'm sorry, Gatomon! _I'm so sorry!_ I was _so_ mean to you, please forgive me!" she added, her eyes filling with tears.

"No, come on..." Gatomon said, now also with watery eyes, "I messed up, I deserve this... you don't have to apologize! I'm sorry, okay?"

"Me too!" Kari sobbed hugging Gatomon tightly.

They sat there for a while, crying and exchanging apologies, while Mimi still scolded Palmon for losing her hat.

"TK, would you mind moving away from Kari and Gatomon?" Izzy asked.

"Huh, why?"

"Because they're annoying, so I muted them, too, but I can still hear them, because you're standing so close to them! _No, Tai_, I don't care, that she's been upset lately! They're annoying! End of discussion!"

"Come on, Izzy-Senpai" Yolei said soothingly, "They're just -"

"Oh, and I don't even know, why I didn't mute _you_, yet!"

"Everybody, shut the fuck up!" Veemon yelled, "Can we save the crying and bitching for later and just get a fucking move on?"

"Uh, _excuse me!_" Mimi said annoyed, "I'm talking with my partner here, okay?"

"Oh, I am _sorry,_ Princess!" Veemon huffed, "I forgot, we're supposed to drop everything, as soon as you start talking, so you can have a quiet fucking conversation! _By all means_, sit down and talk this out in peace! It's not like we're on the fucking clock or anything!"

"Veemon, you are truly a hero to this group" Izzy complimented him, "I am not even being sarcastic, right now. I would probably lose my mind, if it wasn't for you..."

"_Yeah, yeah!_" Tai said in the background, so loud that they could hear him, "He's a great leader and I am trash! _We. Get it._"

"Are you recording this by any chance?" Veemon asked, with the biggest smile on his face, "I would love, to have this, playing on loop!"

"Mimi, why can I hear Izzy and Tai in my head?" Palmon asked confused.

"I... uh..." Mimi started.

"You got this, Mimi" TK said, walking past her, "I won't explain shit and Izzy just muted you two. It's up to you"

"Why would you do this to yourself, TK?" Izzy asked in disbelief,

"And your comrades, too?"

"Uh, _duh_" TK said, "Because it's gonna be hilarious!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, when they arrived at the next location, Izzy had guided them to, a crossroad in a mountainous area, TK had already learned how wrong he was.

"Izzy, can you mute her for us, too?" he asked, massaging his temples.

"You wanted me, to explain everything to her!" Mimi said angry.

"Yes! And it was a train wreck!" TK admitted, "It felt like a good idea at first, but now I wanna stab my ears, so I can have some god damn silence, for once! Can we just move on?"

"Yeah, but - where to?" Yolei asked, "Which path should we take Izzy-Senpai?"

"It's a figure of speech, Wannabe!"

"No, actually she has a point for once." Izzy conceded, "Let's just move as far away from this shit as humanly possible. And in order to do that, let's split up the group, shall we?"

"That seems a bit drastic" Kari said.

"Believe it or not, beyond saving me from going insane, there is another usage for that, Kari."

"Okay..."

"The path splits in front of you, Kari!" Izzy exclaimed impatiently, "Use some common sense! We have do not have much time and we need to cover a lot of ground! Now: Blank, Wannabe, check your D3's. Let's find out who needs to go where. There's two energy sources up ahead, one pretty close to you actually, and also one to your right."

"Why is everything in walking distance, lately?" TK asked, "Remember when we looked for our crests, back in the day? Sometimes we walked for days in between finding two. Now everything's like - ten minutes away!"

"Believe me TK, I am uneasy about that, too." Izzy said, "Considering this is the Digital World, things are going way too smoothly, recently."

"Well, we're in Historic Server here." Veemon explained, "Not a huge area. And from what I heard, they scattered the eggs across this region. So, yeah. Not that shocking."

"So we're on Server, huh?" TK said, "Good to know..."

"I knew that" Izzy said, "You just never asked. So I assumed, you didn't care. As usual. Also, Veemon, did you hear anything else, about this whole program with the armor-eggs that might be of interest to us?"

"Uh, no. That's all I know." Veemon admitted, "You see, this godly voice told me they were gonna hide the eggs across this region and that I needed to be sealed under one of them."

"And you just went along with that?" TK asked baffled.

"Hell no! I told them to fuck off. I was prepared to fight my way outta there, but they were like 'We thought you might say that' and then they sealed me anyway. Assholes..."

"Interesting" Izzy said, "Back to your objective, for the energy sources up ahead, you would need to take the left path."

"I need to go to the left then." Yolei said.

"Me too." Cody added.

"Oh, don't get confused, by the way. From your point of view, both sources are right behind one another, so... you know what, I'll give you directions. No need to stare at your D3's the entire time."

"So, where does the 'splitting up' part come in?" TK asked.

"TK, Kari, if you please..."

TK and Kari hesitated.

"What do you...?"

"_Remember the new feature, I added to your Digivices?_"

"Oh!" they said, checking their Digivices.

"Uh, I need to go to the right" Kari said.

"You're not going alone!" Tai said, surprisingly loud and clear.

"Hands – off... my mic!" Izzy said struggling, presumably to get the microphone back from Tai.

"Chill out, Tai." TK said, "I need to go the same way. Hang on, didn't you say, there was only one energy source that way?"

"Oh, boy this is gonna be fun, to explain..." Izzy said, taking a deep breath "While transferring the tracking feature, I noticed, the codes are fairly similar, but each D3 has a specific number that's different from the others. Cody, Yolei and Davis had the numbers one, two and three, respectively, so I tried giving you different numbers, hoping you would be able to track different things than them. Bigger numbers didn't work, so I gave both of you the number zero. Not ideal, I know, but at least you _can_ use the tracking feature, now. Even if it's just the same content for both of you."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Yolei said.

"Really? _You_ understood that?" Izzy asked skeptically.

"I told you, I was into coding." Yolei smiled.

"Yeah, I'm lost again..." Davis said, shaking his head, "I don't get coding..."

"Anyone else having trouble understanding this?" Izzy asked.

"No" the rest of the group said in unison.

"Looks like coding isn't the problem here, Davis. Even Kari gets it, and she doesn't know jack shit about coding."

"True" Kari shrugged.

"Now: Mimi, you go left with the rookies. TK and Kari, you take the right path."

"Why, do I have to go with the rookies?" Mimi asked.

"So... you can... get to know them better?" TK suggested.

"Nice one, TK, but actually I had a good reason, as to why she should go with them: You two have Gatomon and Patamon, one champion-level and one rookie. They have Veemon, who can reach that weird Armor-level and Palmon, so it's basically evened out."

"What about me?" Tentomon asked.

"Oh yeah, that's right. You go with TK and Kari, too. The others will probably find at least either Blank or Wannabe's partner, so you'd be more useful, supporting the other two."

"Okay" Tentomon said flying over to TK and Kari.

"One more thing before you go: Obviously, I cannot talk to both teams at the same time. Meaning, I will communicate with one group at the time while the other is muted. However, before anyone starts bitching again: I can see your sound levels on my screen. So, if your team is in trouble or something important comes up while you are muted, just yell really load or something. That way I'll now, which side to pay attention to."

The group split up, both crews following their respective paths.

"How far is it, Izzy?" TK asked.

"One sec" Izzy said, "Gotta give 'em their directions first."

TK and Kari's group walked further down the narrow gray canyon, their route had led them into. One or two minutes later, Izzy was back:

"Peace at last..." he sighed.

"Be honest, you only split us up like that so you have an excuse to mute Davis, Yolei and Mimi the entire time." Kari said.

"Uh, of course I did. Which part of 'peace at last' didn't you understand?"

"Yeah, duh!" TK said.

"I also labeled both teams, for convenience. You are 'Team A' -"

"Sweet!" TK said, "No, wait! What about A-Team?"

"No" Izzy said immediately.

"So we're 'Team A' and they're 'Team B'." Kari recapped, nodding.

"No, them I labeled 'Team Disposable'."

"Oh..." Kari said, "But our leader is on that team... and Mimi!"

It took a few seconds before Izzy answered:

"There. Now they are 'Team _Semi_-Disposable'."

"Well... that's better... I guess..."

"Just one second - rookies you were supposed to turn left, at that weird looking rock! No - _no_, I don't care! _Just turn left!_ There you go. Later. Back to you guys: Keep going until you reach a cliff side. There you turn left and follow the path down to the lava lakes."

"Lava lakes?" TK repeated skeptically.

"I know, right?" Izzy said, weirdly excited, "Finally some opposition from the Digital World! I'm not even sure if you can get to the source, without digivolving!"

"Hooray" TK mumbled.

"Izzy's right, though" Kari said, "That probably means the mission isn't jinxed, after all."

"You know, you probably jinxed it, right now, by saying that, right?" TK pointed out.

"I..." she hesitated, "No, you know what? Let's stay positive, okay? It's gonna be fine."

"Famous last words..." Izzy said, "Oh, gotta go. They're yelling on the other end."

But barely five seconds passed, before he was back:

"Wait, false alarm. Veemon was just yelling at Mimi to shut up, again..."

* * *

"So, anyway the others were all like mind-controlled and stuff, but it didn't work on me, because that stupid teddy bear made fun of my fabulous hat!" Mimi said.

"Is she done, yet?" Veemon grumbled. He was covering his ears, and repeatedly looking down the side of the narrow trail, guiding them along the face of the cliff, they were on, as if considering to jump off.

Mimi ignored his comment.

"Nobody insults my hat" she growled, "Which I still miss, very much, by the way!" she added, shooting Palmon a quick glare.

"I'm sorry, Mimi!" Palmon said with a shaky voice, "I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me!"

Mimi, who's look had softened during Palmon's apology, picked up her partner and embraced her, saying:

"_Aww, I can't stay mad at you!_ You're my little Palmon! It's okay, I forgive you, I love you! I love so much! We're gonna stay best friends forever, you know that! We've been through so much, I could never hate you, I -"

"SHUT UUUUP!" Veemon yelled, "I've been plugging my ears this entire time and they are STILL bleeding!"

"_You_ shut up!" Mimi fired back.

"I assume, I'm not needed here, then." Izzy said, before he muted himself on their end again, his action now being indicated by a soft beep.

"You could say that a little nicer, you know?" Mimi nagged.

"I'm not nice!" Veemon said, "Isn't that fucking obvious, by now?"

"Ugh! You're an asshole!"

"Oh, go fucking figure! Doesn't seem to be enough to make me cough up my lungs, though. Looks like I've found your weakness..."

"Well, I know I can be a little difficult, sometimes. So it's not like that's triggering me, too much..."

"_Sometimes?_" Veemon asked, "Did I just meet you on a bad day? Also, what you guys mean to tell me, Princess Pride over here has self-reflection skills? Oh, that's right you are the new kids, you wouldn't know... Still: _She, of all people?_"

"_I hate you!_"

Veemon stopped. He cleared his throat a couple of times. Then he paused, contemplating.

"Nope, still fine" he shrugged, "Looks like I know, how to handle you, now."

Mimi mumbled something about handling Veemon, under her breath.

"We're there, by the way" Veemon said.

"You sure?" Davis asked.

"Look, I know, you're an idiot, but are you really _that_ dense?" Veemon replied frustrated, pointing at the tall gash in the mountain in front of them, which was exactly where Izzy told them it would be. There were dim, purplish flashes of light emitting from the inside.

"Maybe we should peek inside carefully and then..." Yolei started, but Veemon cut her off:

"Oh, for the love of god!"

He marched past them, straight into the cave.

The cave took on the shape of the gash, stretching like a long hallway, in a triangular shape into the depths of the mountain. At the end of it, sat a yellow egg formed by a few rounded plates and with a small silver claw at its top, pointing forward. Next to some purple accents there was Izzy's crest carved into it, also colored purple and a larger version of it was engraved into the back wall of the cavern. Like in the first cave, the remaining crest were also on the walls, purple, electric arcs flashed over their surfaces subtly illuminating the room. Occasionally, small lightnings would shoot from the egg, hitting one of the crests each time.

"I don't know, man. Looks like this is it" Veemon said rolling his eyes, "YO, IZZY!" he yelled to get the redhead's attention, "IZZY!"

"What?" Izzy replied.

"We're at the cave"

"I can see that" Izzy said annoyed, "You're on the map, remember?"

"Oh, right... So anyway, now what?"

"What, you need me to hold your hand for this? Pick up the damn egg! It's not rocket science!"

"Yeah, right. I guess, what I meant was: stick around while we pick it up."

"Suuure that's what you meant... Which crest is it anyway?"

"Knowledge" Veemon said, as they walked up to the egg, "or... gluttony or whatever!"

"Yeah, I feel like the crests don't mean anything anymore." Izzy said, "I mean, Davis didn't need to be courageous or lazy, he just needed to hold the damn thing and say some stupid phrase... granted, that – was a real challenge for _him._ Eh, who cares, Cody you're up."

"Uh, why do you assume it's him Izzy-Senpai?" Yolei asked, "It could be me, too..."

"You want an honest answer, Wannabe?"

"I mean... I..." Yolei began, but then she just leaned forward, grabbed the egg – and lifted it up.

Veemon looked at her in disbelief.

"Wait, what?"

"What?" Izzy asked, "What happened?"

"She... picked it up..." Veemon explained hesitatingly.

"_Excuse me?_" Izzy said and his voice cracked.

"Yes! I did it!" Yolei squealed excited, "I have your crest, Izzy-Senpai!"

Smiling from ear to ear, she opened up her D-Terminal, with a flick of her wrist, letting it absorb the egg.

"I can't believe it!" she continued bouncing up and down, "This is so awesome! Am I right, Izzy-Senpai?"

No response.

"Izzy-Senpai?"

A soft beep.

* * *

"Yep, _that_ looks pretty obvious." TK said, looking down into the valley in front of them. It was mostly flat terrain riddled with the lava lakes, Izzy told them about. On a small Island in the middle of one of them, there was a slim beam of light, resembling a god ray, shining onto or originating from a a small bright object.

"Well, let's get going, then" Gatomon said determined.

They made their way down the path, leading into the valley, as they all heard a beep.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Tai?" Kari asked.

"Yeah" Tai sighed, "Izzy is a little... uh, he's coping, right now."

"_Coping?_" TK asked.

"Ya, uh... Wannabe just picked up the egg with Izzy's crest on it."

Kari blinked.

"_Yolei_ picked up the egg of - what was it? Knowledge?"

"I know, right?" Tai chuckled, "Irony of fate. Couldn't have seen _that _one coming"

"_Tai, this is as far from amusing, as it could possibly get!_" Izzy yelled in the background.

"Nah, you're just at the wrong end of the joke." Tai said relaxed, "To us it's the funniest thing that happened today. Eh, screw that: _all week!_"

"Fuck you!"

They heard some rustle at Tai's and Izzy's end.

"Gimme my mic back!"

"Okay, okay!"

"Tell me, you are nearly done!" Izzy said, once he had the microphone back, "I wanna wrap up this shit-show, as soon as possible..."

"I tell you one thing: If Izzy had Mimi's crest, we'd all be dead by now." TK said uneasy.

"Let's just - not talk about crests for a while, okay?" Izzy said, still gathering his composure.

"Not gonna be easy, we're nearly there..." TK said, as they reached the valley.

He stepped forward to the edge of one of the lava lakes - immediately regretting his decision and taking three big steps back.

"Geez! That's hot!" he said startled.

"_Really?_ It's hot?" Izzy said his voice drenched in sarcasm, "We - we're talking about _lava_, right?"

"It's okay, I get it..." TK murmured.

"Molten rock, setting everything on fire, that even comes _close_ to it?" Izzy continued, "_You're telling me, that stuff is hot?!_"

"This is not about the lava, is it?" TK asked dry.

"That would be correct!" Izzy said, "This is about stupidity! You know what, I'm gonna head back to the rookies now, because A) there might be important stuff to discuss over there now and B) I am starting to see entertainment value, in making fun of their poor excuse for intelligence! Which I can't say about you, since it gets gradually more depressing, discovering more layers of your idiocy, every time we fucking talk!"

And with that, and the familiar beep, Izzy was gone again.

"I say, we don't make fun of this whole crest thing, while he's watching over us in here..." Gatomon suggested, "Just to be safe."

The group nodded in agreement.

* * *

"I'm back..." Izzy grumbled, after switching channels to the rookies again.

"Aw, you missed the whole thing!" Mimi said, "There was this laser beam and Yolei's partner was in there and he's really super cute -"

"Mimi, I saw everything the first time around" Izzy cut in, "No need, for a recap, I know the drill."

"But you didn't, though" Yolei said irritated, "Remember, you only activated the camera, after the beam was gone -"

"_I said, I know the drill, Wannabe!_"

"Oh! Speaking of knowing the drill" Yolei said suddenly, then she walked over to her new partner and hugged him.

He made a surprised sound, but sighed afterwards, giving up his resistance.

"You got him in the network, Izzy-Senpai?"

"You remembered that?" Izzy asked surprised, "Whatever, yeah I got him - wait, _him?_ What's going on here? Aren't our partners normally tailor-made for each of us, down to the gender?"

"Um" the new arrival said, "Who's talking, right now?"

He spoke with a thick British accent.

"Oh, that's well..." Veemon said, looking for the right phrasing, "Uh, basically he's our supervisor. He's running this whole operation from the human world."

"Really? But how is he -?"

"Look, I know all of this is a tad confusing" Izzy said, "However, we don't have much time to explain, right now. All you need to know, as of this moment, is that there's a human kid, trying to rule the Digital World and we are trying to stop him. He mind controls Digimon and builds black towers which apparently have the ability to suppress Digivolution."

"Bloody hell!" the Digimon said shocked, "A _human_ can do all that?"

"Dude, you haven't met Izzy before." Tai chuckled, speaking into Izzy's microphone, "Izzy is the supervisor guy, by the way."

"Wha- who the - _who is this, now?_" Yolei's partner asked.

"Eh, he's not important" Izzy said in passing, "_No_, not anymore, Tai! In any event, first things first: What's your name? Normally, I could look it up, but I don't have a camera, right now and I would need your image, in order to do so."

"Oh, it's Hawkmon. Pleasure to uh... _meet you_... I guess..."

"Uh huh, nice to meet you..." Izzy said absent, "Let me look that up, real quick - really? You look like _that _and you're talking with a British accent?"

Hawkmon was a bird Digimon, sharing - unsurprisingly - a lot of similarities with a hawk. He had red and white feathers and black claws at the ends of his wings. Also he wore a black belt around his head decorated with a red and orange feather. That combined with some red markings in his face, gave him the appearance of a native American tribe member.

"What do you mean?" Hawkmon asked, confused, since he had no context concerning native American tribes, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Ugh, forget it" Izzy said, "Another prime example of Digital World randomness, I suppose..."

"Awesome" Veemon said, "Let's -"

"_Awesome, indeed!_" Yolei glowing with happiness.

Veemon waited a second, to see, if she was done.

"Sure, great" he said, "I think we're done here, so let's move on, okay? Izzy, where do we go next?"

"Back to the last crossing, and to your left. Down the mountain from there, and onto the meadows. It looks like a Mayan pyramid. _Should_ be pretty hard to miss."

"Alright!" Yolei exclaimed, "Let's go, Digdestined!"

"Tone it down, Wannabe" Izzy said annoyed.

"Yeah, shut the fuck up, Wannabe!" Veemon added equally annoyed.

"Why do you keep calling her that?" Hawkmon asked, "I thought, her name was Yolei... or something... I don't know, she was talking really fast."

"It'll make more sense, once you get to know us better" Veemon said.

"Still" Hawkmon said, "Kind of rude..."

They left the cave. Hawkmon looked around. He seemed confused.

"Where are we?" he asked, "This isn't where they sealed me away, at all!"

"Really?" Izzy asked, "Where did they seal you away? Under which crest?"

"Well, it was the crest of love" Hawkmon said, "and it was in a desert temple... so yeah... nowhere near here..."

"Oh, well" Izzy said, "Added a marker to that location. Guess, we now know where the armor-egg of love is. But that's interesting. So, I assume, where you guys are released, depends on which eggs we find first. Well, at least we now have some explanation, as to why things are running so smoothly, lately..."

They continued. Hawkmon flew next to them but Yolei grabbed him and proceeded to carry him in front of her chest, humming happily to herself.

"Oh, uh..." Hawkmon started awkwardly, "That's uh... nice of you... but I can walk on my own... or fly..."

"Yeah, but you're so cute and cuddly!"

Hawkmon sighed.

"Look, I appreciate it, but I would honestly prefer to fly..."

"Aww..." Yolei said disappointed letting go of him, "Oh! But you have to cuddle with me in our world, because you know, you'll have to pretend to be a stuffed animal and also you're just so incredibly cute and -"

"Well, looks like my job here is done" Izzy stepped in, "You know the drill: yell, if you need me, okay bye now." he added, talking very fast, before muting them.

* * *

"Hmm" Gatomon said, looking at the lava lake surrounding the island with their target on it, "Now what?"

"I could try, to carry you over" Tentomon suggested, although he didn't sound very convinced of his own idea.

"Uh... can we try this above solid ground first?" TK said, turning pale, "No, come on there's gotta be another way!" he added walking over to the side of the lake, the island was closest to.

"There's lava on all sides, give it up!" Gatomon called out after him.

"Wait, are there _two – _huh? - _Oh, what the fuck!?_" TK said suddenly, stopping in his tracks, looking at something in his hand.

"What is it?" Kari asked, following him, "Wha-?"

Just as she reached him, her Digivice started to glow. Surprised she took it in her hand and watched, as it transformed into a D3 with a pink color scheme.

"Look, I got a D3, now!" Kari said.

"Crap! I got a fucking D3, now!" TK complained.

"Hey, I'm back" Izzy said, joining their conversation again.

"Izzy, what the hell?" TK said.

"What a nice way, to greet me..."

"Look at this!" TK said holding his new D3 in front of Kari's camera. His had green accents.

"Where did that come fro- _oh, wait!_ The code!"

"What do you –? Wait, you're telling me you did this?" TK asked upset, "What the fuck man? D3's suck!"

"Well, it's possible..." Izzy said, "_If_ I caused this I didn't do it on purpose, I can tell you that much. I didn't expect, adding one feature of the new Digivices, would cause yours to transform like that. Huh, when exactly did that happen?"

"When they got closer to the egg" Gatomon said.

"I think it's two eggs, actually" TK said.

"Hmm..." Izzy said, "I mean, the energy source looks stronger, but – then again it's hard to tell. I cannot zoom in or out on this map and the energy reading is fairly inaccurate... at least – in terms of displaying the strength of the energy sources. I gotta make my own version... this one sucks... why would it be two, though?"

"Yeah, also why is my D3 fucking green?"

"How the fuck would I know, TK?" Izzy said annoyed, "Oh, wait – _because yellow is already taken, you genius!_"

"Oh, you saw, where I was going with this, huh?"

"Wasn't a hard guess, that you would want the same color, as your crest... But let's be real, this is very beneficial for us." he explained, "It most likely means, you can truly use armor eggs. So you should definitely pick these two up."

"Sure, but" TK said, looking at the lake, "How do we get to them?"

"Actually I -"

"_Holy shit!_" TK yelled, interrupting Izzy.

"What? What's happening?" Izzy asked startled.

Kari panned the camera across the hills.

"This might be a problem..." Izzy commented calmly.

Half a dozen Ogremon were sliding down the mountain slopes around them.

As their name would suggest, the champion level Digimon were big green Ogres with muscular bodies, big mouths and horns growing out of multiple parts of their bodies. Each wielded a large bone colored club with spikes on the end.

All of them wore black rings on their right arms and had glowing red eyes.

* * *

In awe the group, surrounding Mimi looked down to the meadows below them. They were standing on a ridge connecting the cave's mountain with another peak nearby. The fields were lush and green, resting on gentle hills, embraced by dense forests in the distance. There were some large rocks scattered across the fields along with a few ponds, containing crystal clear water. Right in the middle, just like Izzy said, was a small ancient pyramid, taken over by the flora of its surroundings. Izzy was right: It was hard to miss.

"Wow, this is so pretty" Mimi said amazed, "Well, except for that building in the middle... kinda ugly. Could use some cleaning..."

"You mean the pyramid, we're meant to go to?" Veemon huffed, "For fuck's sake, did you even listen to Izzy, when he gave us instructions, Princess?"

"No, I must have missed that one... My shoes are dirty..." she added, looking down at herself.

Veemon face-palmed.

"Oh, look at those!" Davis said excited, pointing at a few Digimon that looked like red Tyrannosaurus Rex but with green bone plates like the ones of Stegosaurus on their backs, "It's like Jurassic Park, down there!"

"Well, at least he's stopped all that Pokémon crap..." Veemon muttered, "Took me like seven death threats to beat that shit out of him..."

Suddenly Davis gasped.

"You think, we can catch them with our D-terminals? Like we did with the eggs? That'd be so sick! I would make a dinosaur team! Wait, catching 'em all was a thing here too, right?"

"Me and my big mouth!" Veemon hissed, clenching his teeth and fists.

"Let's go then" Mimi said.

"No, let's wait until these three have passed" Veemon said, "No need to pick a fight with three champion-levels"

The group stared at him.

"What?" he asked.

"_No need to pick a fight?_" Yolei said, crossing her arms, "I expected you to say 'let's kill them in cold blood'. This doesn't sound like you."

"My god, I feel like a fucking broken record..." Veemon growled, "Which part of _'I'm not suicidal'_ don't you understand? Tyrannomon aren't exactly weak champion-levels. Even if we digivolved, we'd have a problem because we'd still be out numbered!"

"No, we would have Togemon, too." Mimi said.

"Are you blind now, too?" Veemon asked, "See those black towers everywhere? Unless you know a Togemon, that happens to live in a cave nearby, no. We don't have a Togemon!"

"But I'm thirsty!" Mimi whined, "There are those little ponds down there!"

"You would drink out of those, Princess?"

"They look clean! Also Palmon can test how clean water is. She's really sensitive about that."

"I can fly down there." Hawkmon suggested "I'm quite small, they probably won't even notice me. You have a bottle or something? I can bring you some water."

Davis giggled.

"What?" Hawkmon asked.

"Wha'?" Davis chuckled imitating Hawkmon's accent, "You want some wa'er?

"That's nice..." Hawkmon mumbled.

"Uh, guys" Yolei said, nervously, "Why are they running toward us, now?"

"Also, why are they wearing black rings around their necks?" Hawkmon asked, "Did they always have those?"


	5. Of(f) Balance & Mouthing Off

-x-

**Chapter Five**

**Of(f) Balance & Mouthing Off**

Since the sound levels on the rookies' end exploded, Izzy had decided to check in on them.

"IZZY-SENPAI!"

"WHAT, Wannabe? _What?_" Izzy fired back, annoyed about the way she screeched his name.

"There's three uh... uh – what are they called?"

"Tyrannomon" Veemon said tense.

"- Tyrannomon! There are three Tyrannomon running at us!" Yolei finished, "I think they're attacking!"

"What did you say? Three of them?"

"YES!" she screamed terrified, "_What do we do?_"

"Well, deal with them!" Izzy said, "You know, how to use the eggs! Guess what, you guys are not my top priority, right now."

"_How are we not the top priority with THREE champion levels trying to kill us?!_" Veemon asked upset, "What are the others doing?_ Fighting an army?_"

"No, but they're fighting twice as many enemies on the same level!"

"Oh..."

"Yeah, looks like an ambush, which is why I have to switch back now, or else Tai might get an aneurysm..."

"SWITCH BACK!" Tai yelled in the background, "_Fuck the rookies! My sister is about to die!_"

"Yeah, you heard him, best of luck" Izzy added quickly, before cutting off the connection.

"_Oh, my god..._" Yolei said, turning white. Her breathing quickened, as she started to panic.

"Hey!" Veemon barked, kicking her leg.

"_Ow!_ What are you - ?"

"Snap out of it and use the damn egg!" he exclaimed.

The Tyrannomon were working their way up the hill. They were half-way up, when one of them opened their jaws wide, shooting an enormous fireball at them. The projectile's trajectory arched, causing it to hit the top of the slope, instead of them.

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay" Yolei said, taking a deep breath, "Davis, on the count of three!"

"You seriously think this is gonna work for_ him?_" Veemon asked baffled.

"Fine! Davis, after me!"

Yolei quickly accessed the egg on her D-Terminal.

"Uh..." Davis said uncertain, "How do I – hey!"

Yolei had taken his D-Terminal from him, accessing his egg, before passing back to him.

"Here you go!" she said stressed, "Now: Digi-armor eneeeeeeergize!"

Davis was lagging about a second behind but he managed to successfully chant the phrase to:

"Digi-armor eneeeeeeergize!"

"Do they really have to say it like _that?_" Mimi asked.

"I bet not" Veemon groaned in the middle of Digivolution, "They're just idiots!"

"Hawkmon armor- wait we can talk, while digivolving?" Hawkmon interrupted himself, "I thought we had to - oh, right - uh, Flybeemon! I'm Flybeemon now!"

"That's... not what I expected..." Yolei said, thrown off by his new appearance:

Hawkmon had turned into, what looked like a red, humanoid dragonfly with a stinger at the end of his tail and, oddly enough, two feathers on his head, serving as the only reminder of his previous form. He also wore black armor pieces, the head piece bearing the crest of knowledge in blue.

"Okay, let's go!" Flamedramon shouted, sliding down the slope. He stopped shortly before his enemy, only to punch multiple fireballs into the dinosaur's face, in a rapid fashion. The force of the numerous attacks slowly lifted the front portion of Tyrannomon's body into the air and backwards, causing the dinosaur to loose balance and fall backwards, sending him tumbling down the hill.

"One down!" Flamedramon called out, watching Tyrannomon roll further and further down the steep slope, unable to recover, "That was easy... try to make 'em loose their balance!" he shouted over to Flybeemon, "They're so fucking stupid, I'd be shocked, if they managed to get up after that!"

"Easier said than done!" Flybeemon answered, "_Needle_ _Stinger!_"

He shot his stinger like a bullet and it immediately regrew, giving him the opportunity, to turn the attack into rapid fire. The stingers mostly bounced off Tyrannomon's thick hide, and the ones that actually got stuck didn't seem to phase the Digimon too much, only slowing him down slightly.

"Huh" Flamedramon said, sliding down toward the next Tyrannomon, dodging his enormous jaws, with a quick action roll, then dealing a fire enhanced strike to one of his legs. The dinosaur stumbled and fell onto his stomach.

"Feels easy enough, to me" Flamedramon said smug.

"Quick!" Yolei shouted, "Hit the black ring while he's down, Flybeemon!"

"Uh, okay" Flybeemon said, "_Needle Stinger!_"

He shot another burst at the Tyrannomon that was on the floor. Again a few bounced off, but the stingers that hit the black ring were enough to shatter it.

"Nice!" Flybeemon called out satisfied, as Tyrannomon got back up on his feet, turned around an ran down the hill, out of dodge.

"You know, you don't have to call out attack names either." Flamedramon said.

"Really? How did I not know this? That's mental!"

"Yeah, last time I digivolved I flew into a rage and I didn't say any of the standard crap. But it worked anyway." Flamedramon shrugged, "Also, I could have wrecked the black ring, as well..." he added glaring at Yolei.

"Well, I don't trust you, though..." she said suspicious, "You probably would have killed him instead!"

"Yeah, you're right!" Mimi said, "I always hated, how the others just killed everyone we fought! No killing!"

"You gotta be kidding me..." Flamedramon muttered.

"I mean, if we don't have to, we probably shouldn't kill them" Flybeemon argued, keeping the last Tyrannomon at bay with his stingers, "This is way better, we can talk while fighting now!"

"Sure, great, awesome... How about we focus on the fight, though?" Flamedramon said.

A black tower off to the side of the slope caught his eye. It was located on a large rock and close enough to Tyrannomon that it gave him an idea.

"Hey, you think we can throw him into that tower? You know, two birds, one stone?"

"Sure, but I don't think my attacks can really push him anywhere. I mean, I have this lightning attack, but..."

He looked around, back at the others. Then he locked eyes with Palmon.

"I got it! Keep him busy!"

He flew up to her.

"Jump on!" he said.

"What? Why?"

"I'll explain on the way! Let's go!"

"Be careful, Palmon!" Mimi called out after them as Flybeemon took off.

"What's the plan?" Flamedramon yelled.

"Hold on!" Flybeemon said, "Push him, with all you got, when I tell you to! Palmon, go!"

"You got it!" Palmon said, extending the claws on her left hand into vines, wrapping them around Flybeemon's shoulder. The other hand she used to shoot vines at Tyrannomon's arm. The dinosaur turned his head, preparing to attack, but Flybeemon was faster; he sped up the flapping of his wings, creating purple lightning, which he shot at Tyrannomon. As expected, the attack didn't move Tyrannomon very much, however it did seem to stun him extremely. Flybeemon flew toward the black tower, slowly and laboriously dragging Tyrannomon behind him, moving him toward the tower.

"NOW!"

Flamedramon shot two fireballs behind him, using the recoil, to accelerate. At break-neck speed, he sprinted at Tyrannomon. Once he reached him he punched him with both fists launching to fireballs into him at point-blank range. Now all resistance coming from the dinosaur was gone, and their combined efforts hurled him into the tower. The center of the tower was shattered, and Tyrannomon flew over what was left of the base. Stumbling the Digimon rose to his feet again. Dazed he took a few steps forward before slumping onto the towers base impaling himself on a spike of its break line. He growled in agony before exploding into a million shards.

"No!" Yolei screamed, "_You killed him!_"

"What did we just say?!" Mimi added furiously.

"Uh, _oops..._" Flamedramon said awkwardly, "I would just like to point out, that this was a team effort..."

"Great work..." Cody muttered passing by Flamedramon.

"Eh, stop the bitching" Flamedramon shot back, "At least we knocked down the tower, too."

"I'm filled with joy!" Yolei grumbled.

"Shut up and let's move on, alright?"

They hurried down the hill – until they reached the passed out Tyrannomon, who had rolled down the slope; he still wore the black ring.

"What do we do with him?" Cody asked.

"Well, he's out cold, maybe we should -" Yolei started but was interrupted by Flamedramon walking up to Tyrannomon, throwing a burning fist at the black ring, destroying it effortlessly.

"Careful!" she said irritated.

"Calm down, he's fine, isn't he?" Flamedramon huffed, as Tyrannomon moved, slowly coming to.

Flamedramon started to glow and devolved back to Veemon again.

"That's better" he said, "Now let's go."

"You did that on purpose?" Flybeemon asked.

"Saving up some energy. I was running low." Veemon explained, "Just wanted to avoid, devolving any further. In this form I still have kick-ass headbutts. You don't expect me, to finish this job with fucking 'Bursting Bubbles', do you?"

"Huh, fair play – ARGH!"

A fireball hit Flybeemon from behind; apparently Tyrannomon wasn't done with them yet.

"_Shit!_" Veemon yelled.

"Why is he still attacking us?" Cody asked startled.

"Uh, because he is an asshole, I guess!"

"Flybeemon – uh... Hawkmon?" Yolei said confused; Flybeemon had immediately devolved upon being hit by Tyrannomon's attack.

"No... not quite." he answered.

He had turned into a small, furry, pink ball with short wings and a tiny beak. The feather, he wore on his head as Hawkmon also remained, where it was.

"I'm Poromon, now..." he explained.

Yolei ran over to him and picked him up.

"Aw, you're so _cuu-_"

"Shut up and run!" Veemon barked, sprinting towards the pyramid.

Luckily for them Tyrannomon still appeared to be a little bemused, since his following shots all missed, and he couldn't quite catch up to them. Just as it seemed to get dangerous for them, they reached the entrance of the pyramid. They were already in the middle of the hall when the dinosaur slammed into the structure. His body was to big for him to fit through, but his head did, so he remained just under the doorway. The entrance itself was rather low, therefor he couldn't open up his mouth to fire at them again. He tried once but his jaw hit the massive stone block above the door, causing lots of tiny stones to rill down on him.

"That was close!" Davis said having caught his breath first.

"Let's try not to say shit like that, when we're still not safe yet!" Veemon argued annoyed, "Okay, let's see..."

He examined the door frame with Tyrannomon's head in it.

"You know, that boulder above his head looks pretty loose..." he said turning around to face the others, "I mean, one well placed headbutt by me... maybe some help from Palmon's vines, and we can drop that thing on his head."

"Yes, but that could kill him!" Mimi said through gritted teeth.

"So what? He's trying to kill us! Without any mind control! At this point, he has it coming!"

"We gonna find a way out of this" Yolei said, "But not like this!"

"Here we go again!" Veemon groaned.

"No matter what, _we are not gonna kill anyone else!"_

* * *

"Just fucking kill them! The rookies aren't here!" TK yelled, as he and Kari took cover between a few rocks away from the lava.

"Oh, yeah of course! Fighting one of these guys alone, is fucking lame, anyways!" Gatomon shouted sarcastically, punching an Ogremon in the face, knocking him to the ground, "_It's way more fun when they come in bulk!_"

"Gatomon, see those two coming up, a bit behind that big rock at the lake?" Izzy said, "Make sure they don't go past it. In fact, try stalling them so they stay next to it."

"Uh, okay I think, I have a plan! Tentomon, you with me!"

"Um... sure!"

They charged at the two Ogremon.

"Whoever recovers first, gets stunned, alright?" Gatomon told Tentomon.

"What do you - ?"

But Gatomon had already punched the closest Ogremon in such a way, that he stumbled into the one behind him. They collided and the first one fell to the floor, while the second was just startled.

"Oh, okay! Got it!" Tentomon said, sending a small bolt of lightning at the Ogremon, still standing. It wasn't enough to cause damage to him, but it stunned him, noticeably.

"Now would be good, Izzy!" Gatomon said.

"Gotcha!" Izzy exclaimed, slamming a key on his keyboard so intensely, they could hear it through the microphone.

Parts of the cliff side next to the Ogremon, exploded into data, what was left came crumbling down in three huge chunks. The landslide accelerated, crashing into the ogres and pushing them into the lava. Two of the boulders lined up behind each other as they slid into the lake themselves almost forming a perfect bridge over to the island.

"WHOA! That was sick!" TK shouted.

"Get to the island, NOW!" Izzy commanded, "Digimon, cover them!"

TK and Kari ran out of their hiding spot, narrowly avoiding the club of an Ogremon, thanks to Patamon, who deflected it with boom-bubble. Running across the make-shift bridge, they had to jump across a small gap between the two rocks, which wasn't much of a problem. The problems started arising when they reached the gap between the second rock and the island - which was significantly larger. Kari stopped.

"Uh, you think we can make that jump?" she asked nervously.

"Just run and then jump!" TK said hectically.

"But -"

There was no real height difference, but the rim of the island was sloping down into the lava, introducing the risk of slipping and sliding in.

"Look, it's either _maybe_ getting cooked alive, if we screw up or _guaranteed_... well..."

He looked behind them; Two Ogremon had already made their way onto the bridge, leaving the kids' partners desperate to keep them away from TK and Kari.

"Uh, you get the idea, gotta hurry." he finished his thought, "Unless, Izzy has another boulder for us."

"No" Izzy said, "That move from before took a lot of prep time, also I can't just do it anywhere, I please. The dark towers, for example are off-limits entirely. Can't get a hold of any sort of code, that's even related to them."

"Well, gotta jump then!" TK said taking a run-up. And without further hesitation, he sprinted toward the gap and jumped.

"TK!" Kari called out scared, covering her mouth with her hands - but he made it.

"Okay, that wasn't too hard. Just take a good run-up and you should be fine!" he said extending his hands toward her, in case she had trouble making it over.

"TK" Tai spoke into Izzy's microphone, "If this goes south, I'm gonna find a way in there and throw you into the lava as well!"

"Maybe a bit further back!" TK said anxiously as Kari got into position. Kari took another few steps back, before running forward and leaping off the rock. She landed on the island, but lost her balance.  
"_Whooooa!_" she gasped, nearly falling backwards into the lava, if it wasn't for TK, quickly grabbing her wrist and pulling her up to him.

"Thank you!" she said out of breath.

"TK, I take it back." Tai said, obviously relieved, "You're in my cool-book, now."

"Oh, good" TK replied, also slightly out of breath, "Hold on, wasn't I before? - Wait! You don't have to answer that..."

Meanwhile the three Digimon were still fighting off the two Ogremon on the bridge, Tentomon and Patamon taking care of one – or at least trying to – while Gatomon battled the other, one on one.

"How do we get rid of them?" Tentomon asked tense.

Gatomon didn't answer right away, instead she dodged another one of Ogremon's swings, waiting for him to raise his club again. When he did she jumped up to his face and just as he held the club above and behind himself, she timed it right and hit him in the face with a lightning-paw. This combined with the weight of the club completely knocked him off balance, making him fall into the lava. As soon as he hit the hot surface he dissolved into data.

"See? The lava is our friend!" she said with a smirk, "Tentomon, stun your guy and Patamon, you knock him off with boom-bubble."

Gatomon ran back to the end of the bridge, where the remaining two Ogremon waited, while Patamon and Tentomon implemented the plan; Tentomon's lightning made Ogremon's muscles convulse, freezing him in position momentarily. Patamon reacted on cue, firing an air bubble at him, it wasn't a hard hit, but it was sufficient to push him over the edge just enough, so he couldn't recover and fell.

"Yay! We did it!" Patamon shouted excited, high-fiving Tentomon.

"Uh, guys... we're not done yet..." Gatomon said, staring down the two remaining foes. She didn't attack yet, since it meant she would have to fight the two at once. The two Ogremon, on the other hand, didn't attempt to get on the bridge. Instead, they had started to whale on the first rock, probably trying to destroy the bridge.

"You take the one on the right, I take the one on the left" Gatomon ordered, "GO!"

They charged at them. With a few quick strikes Gatomon managed to get her opponent away from the bridge, and the other two succeeded in stopping the other ogre's attempts to destroy the bridge, as well. However, since the Ogremon had witnessed the literal downfall of their allies, they had gotten careful, not to get too close to the the lake. Every time they dodged an attack, they did so away from the glow of the molten rock. That meant the fight was way more difficult, than before, even for Gatomon.

"Tentomon, get over – ugh, never mind!" Gatomon started, but then realized the problem with her plan, "Patamon will get annihilated without your support!"

"No, I can handle – ah!" Patamon argued but, cut himself off, when he almost got hit by Ogremon; Tentomon had stunned the ogre just in time, so he couldn't go through with the attack.

"Yeah, clearly!" Gatomon scoffed, "No, fuck this! You two, stick together!"

"TK, Kari" Izzy said, "This might be a good time, to pick up the egg! Or... the _eggs – _what is it? One or two?"

"Uh, definitely two." TK said.

The were looking at two eggs standing upright next to each other. The first was resting inside of a slim god ray which looked like it was originating from the egg. The egg itself plain white and its shell looked like a coat resembling wings enveloping it, with the bottom hem taking up a shape like it was made out of dozens of feathers. The exposed golden tip of the egg seemed to give them a hint as to what may lie under the coat. The crest of light was in the center of its front, in a pink color.

The second was a brass colored egg, its shell bolted together from a few metal plates. There were two red pieces of cloth attacked to the sides of the egg, looking like small banners. The TK's crest was engraved into its lower half, albeit upside down from what they were used to. Occasionally, small sparks would fly across its surface, so fast, they looked like small shooting stars.

"It's 'Light' and 'Wrath' – I mean 'Hope'!" TK corrected himself, "It _is_ 'Hope', isn't it?"

"Yes, TK. Also, I can see that." Izzy added dry, "On that note, good camera work, Kari. I'm serious, by the way."

"Thanks, it's – kinda hard to tell, with you, sometimes..." Kari said.

"By the way, isn't it fucking weird, that we found _our _crests, of all things?" TK argued.

"Not really" Izzy said calm, "I tried adding the code for the tracking feature to my Digivice as well but it didn't work. I could only apply the code with the number zero, to your and Kari's Digivices. Guess we now know why: That specific code is apparently used to track the eggs with these two crests. And your Digivices are compatible with those crests. Also, let's be real, it's both eggs at once, because they are the perfect bait."

"You mean this is a trap?" TK asked.

"OF COURSE IT'S A FUCKING TRAP!"

"Yeah... since you put like that..."

"Now, use the eggs, before your partners get killed – and more importantly _my partner!_"

"Looks like, we have different priorities here..." TK muttered, "Patamon's _way_ more important..."

"Coming to think of it, would the egg even help Gatomon?" Kari asked, "Would it even work? I thought it was meant to be for rookie-levels."

"Good objection..." Izzy pensively, "I'm gonna check the data, I collected. Meanwhile TK pick up and use yours, asap!"

"_Asap?_"

"_As soon as possible!_"

"Oh, sure" TK said walking over to the egg of hope – then he stopped, "Wait, why would it work, thou-"

"You have a D3 now! _I feel like, this is a sign!_"

"True" TK shrugged and lifted up the egg of hope, "Oh, that's right."

He pulled a D-Terminal out of his pocket.

"Did my homework, Izzy" he added, as he opened the device and let it absorb the egg, "I just – hope my mom wont check swearing jar, for at least a month..."

"Guys?" Gatomon called over the lake, "We could use some support here!"

"Okay, here we go!" TK said holding up his D-Terminal, "Digi-armor energize!"

Instantly, Patamon started to glow white.

"Patamon armor-digivolve to... Pegasusmon!"

He had turned into a brass colored Pegasus with gold engraved armor pieces on his legs chest and head. Similar to Flybeemon his head piece had was marked with the crest on the egg: Hope. But there was one reminder, that it was Patamon who evolved into that form: Pegasusmon's ears looked identical to Patamon's wings.

As soon as the Digivolution was complete, Pegasusmon shot an attack at Ogremon, that looked like a shooting star, from the crest on his forehead. The impact was enormous, lifting Ogremon off his feet, throwing him backwards into the dirt. He lost the grip on his club and it flew away an additional thirty feet.

"Nice!" Gatomon shouted, "That's the kind of fire power, I was talking about!"

She dodged one of her opponent's attacks, before punching the club away to Ogremon's right. Almost in the same move, she jumped after it, positioning next to his legs and treating one of them with a lightning paw in the opposite direction, the club headed. This caused Ogremon to stumble immensely closer to the lava.

"Tentomon, stun him!"

"On it!"

Tentomon flew over and shocked Ogremon while he was still struggling to get up and away from the lava again. He was still standing, so Gatomon slid past him, cutting his leg with her claws. When she came to a stop behind him, she jumped and hit the back of his head, so he fell forward and toward the lake. Tentomon reacted quickly stunning Ogremon again, thus sealing the deal and rendering him unable to save himself. The Digimon hit the lava, dying on impact.

"Good job!" Gatomon exclaimed with a grin, "Now, let's finish that last asshole. Can you carry me over on your back?"

"Yeah... I guess... why?"

"Just do it. I have a plan"

"Okay, looks like you got the situation under control" Izzy said, "I need to check on the rookies, it's gotten awfully quiet on their end..."

"What? Are you worried?" TK asked half laughing.

"Uh, _no?_" Izzy said incredulously, "Still, it might be good to know if our support was killed or not, wouldn't you agree?"

"And our new leader, remember?" Kari added, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that too"

_Beep_

Meanwhile Pegasusmon put up a good fight against the last remaining enemy, although they seemed to be fighting on an even footing. In order to save up energy, Pegasusmon went into close combat, following his first attack. Ogremon, however, had managed to get to his club in time. He grabbed it and spun around, swinging the weapon at Pegasusmon. Closing in on Ogremon, Pegasusmon stood up on his hind legs and tried hitting him with his front hoofs, but Ogremon's attack knocked the front joints to the side.

Pegasusmon tried again but after just a few exchanges, he realized that Ogremon was too strong in melee combat. He took off and started to fly circles around Ogremon, shooting at him constantly. Ogremon dodged the majority of the attacks, since the distance between him and Pegasusmon was big enough, to see them coming, in advance. One time he couldn't, though, and was forced to block it with his club, which cracked visibly on impact.

"Think, you can make that shot again, Pegasusmon?" TK asked.

"Uh, I don't think so, not from this distance" Pegasusmon replied.

"Then move in closer and aim for the club!" he suggested, "I think you can bust it, if you hit it again!"

"Okay!"

Pegasusmon landed a good two hundred feet away from Ogremon and started galloping toward him, while the ogre sprinted in his direction, raising his club. Just before they collided, Ogremon brought down the club, to hit Pegasusmon's head, but the armor-level reacted quickly; he fired another shooting star, which hit the weapon and shattered it into a thousand pieces.

Incapacitated, Ogremon stumbled sideways, in order to dodge the Pegasus' approach, but losing his balance since he had put most of his weight forward, for the attack, and fell to the ground.  
He got back up quickly, turning around only to find Pegasusmon - just standing there, watching him. There was a good reason for that, too: Pegasusmon saw what was coming up behind Ogremon - or rather who.

The Digimon had barely time to turn around and catch a glimpse at them; Tentomon was flying toward him, Gatomon riding on his back.  
"Now!" she commanded and Tentomon bucked her off and she jumped forward.

She flew at Ogremon, so fast, that he had no time to react in anyway. She raised her right paw, pointing her claws at him. When she hit him, she stabbed him in the neck, killing him on the spot.

"Woo!" she shouted out, upon landing on her feet, coming down from the adrenaline rush of the fight, "Undefeated! Bow to the queen of the kill count, bitches!" she added, spreading her arms in a victory pose, "Nice support on that last one, though, Pegasusmon."

"Don't mention it!" Pegasusmon said before devolving to Patamon again.

"IZZY!" TK yelled, "IZZY WE'RE DONE! WHAT ABOUT THE EGG?!"

"Quiet down, already! I'm back." Izzy replied annoyed.

"Oh, okay..." TK said, "Yeah, so anyway they're all dead."

"Was it really necessary to kill all of them?" Kari asked, "They were all mind controlled!"

"Nah" TK said, "Ogremon are all bullies. _Looks like your theory still sucks, Tai!_"

"Fuck you, man!" Tai called out, "It's just been a bunch of bad examples, so far!"

"He's right" Kari supported her brother, "How do we know, the Ogremon we knew, wasn't one of them?"

"You mean, the one _we _knew?" TK asked her smug, "Because _you_ never met him."

"Ugh!" Kari groaned, but then she paused.

"Hang on!" she said, "I _did_ meet him! He's on the group photo, we all took together!"

"Really?" TK said confused, but then his eyes lit up, as he seemed to recall things correctly, "Oh, right! _Leomon_ died! Why would I confuse these two?"

"That's a good question" Izzy said, "How _would_ you confuse these two? But it's unlikely, that we knew any of these Ogremon, considering there isn't a single dark tower on File Island, and I highly doubt, our little antisemitic dickhead would have taken the time, to fly all the way over there on his Airdramon and kidnap a bunch of Digimon there, without leaving at least one tower on that island."

The Ogremon the kids got to know, was native to an island far away from Server (where they were now), called File Island. It was the very location the kids arrived at when they first entered the Digital World.

"In any event" Gatomon said shrugging, "Now they're all back to File Island - in _Starter Village!_" she added giggling, referencing the place where Digimon usually were reborn, after dying, the DigiDestined's partners being the only exception, for all they knew, "Coming to think of it, I killed all of them, didn't I?"

"Ahem" Izzy answered irritated.

"Oh shit, that's right" Gatomon said, "Sorry, Izzy. But hey, I _doomed _all of them, am I right?"

"What about the one, Patamon and I took out?" Tentomon argued.

"Oh..." she recalled, "Yeah, but it was my plan, though. So _technically..._"

"Shut up" Tentomon said dry, flying past her over to the island TK and Kari were on.

"Fair enough" she admitted chuckling and followed him and Patamon over the bridge.

"So what do we do with that thing?" she asked, pointing at the remaining egg, when she reached the island, "I think, Kari is right: I can't use it as a champion level."

"Yeah, I looked over every bit of information about the eggs, we got so far." Izzy said, "The code clearly points toward rookie levels, so it's unlikely it will work on higher levels... That said, we could -"

"_Yoink_" TK interrupted him giggling, snatching the egg from its resting place - although, his chuckle turned into a surprised cough, once he realized, he could _actually_ pick it up.

"TK, what the hell?" Kari said irritated.

"Oh, shit! I didn't think that would work!" TK said equally surprised.

He tried to pass the egg over to Kari, when his D-Terminal started to glow again.

"Here you _goooo - nonononono no!_"

Upset, he looked down at the display of his D-Terminal, which had just absorbed the egg.

"In my defense, I _really_ didn't think this was possible..." TK said taken aback.

"And I repeat" Kari said baffled, "What... the _hell?_"

"I didn't know!"

"Great job..." Kari sighed, "Izzy, you're still with us or did you ditch us, for that stunt?"

A few seconds passed before Izzy replied:

"So, as I was saying earlier: We could still make use of it, if Kari picks it up. Seeing how Gatomon could still devolve, upon using too much energy in a fight, _this could be an excellent fall back!_"

"I'm sorry, okay?!" TK apologized, "Can we reverse this? It's all data, so you probably could, right?"

"Ugh... I gotta look into it... I doubt it, though. On the plus side we now know, one person can pick up at least two eggs."

"Oh shit you're right!" TK said somewhat relieved, it wasn't all bad, "Well, in that case -"

"Don't you _dare_ taking credit for anything positive, that happened today!" Izzy barked before letting out a heavy sigh, "Now, all of you, do me a favor, head west so you can reconvene with the rookies"

"Which way's west?" Kari asked.

"Our improvised bridge is east of you - so the other way" he added to be safe, "Although coming to think of it, try destroying a few dark towers in the area first. I wanna see, if I can figure out the radius of these things."

"By destroying them?"

"TK, you gotta be kidding me" Izzy said annoyed, "Is it seriously that hard to grasp? I compare the cluster fuck of data and energy in this area, before you destroy the tower, with what's in the air, so to speak, when it's gone."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"_No_" Izzy corrected irritated, "The appropriate response would have been: 'Oh, that makes perfect sense'. Get to it!"

* * *

A little bit prior, the rookies had enjoyed a little moment of peace when they took in the new environment: The small pyramid was entirely hollow, so the hall, they were in took on its shape. Moss and small plants covered large portions of the walls, all of them glowing in a gentle green color. There were small gaps in the walls and the tip of the pyramid acting as windows. The crests of the DigiDestined were engraved into one of the steps in the ceiling, emitting the same green glow. A large stone tablet behind the altar were the egg was placed, displayed the Mimi's crest. The egg itself was was largely made up of four green leafs resting on, what looked like a shuriken. The shape of the leafs complemented the tear drop symbol of the crest nicely. However, this moment of tranquility was short lived, because the discussion, of what to do with Tyrannomon continued. And so did the bickering.

"So, what you're saying is, you'd rather starve to death, then hurt that son of a bitch?" Veemon growled, clearly trying to hold back his rage.

"Well, I'd prefer it, if we'd just scare him off..." Yolei suggested, when Veemon cut her off:

"Oh, and how do you think we're gonna do that? Should I just - run up to him, going for a headbutt, then stop at the last second?"

"Listen up, you little shit!" Mimi hissed, threateningly, "We're just trying to find a peaceful solution to this, so either try to help or shut up!"

"Okay, Princess, how about this: Since you pacifist pussies all seem to get off to that shit, why don't we just ask him nicely, then?" Veemon said and turned around to face Tyrannomon, "Hey, Tyrannomon! Do you mind, leaving us alone and not trying to eat us?"

Tyrannomon growled in response.

Veemon turned to his allies again.

"Well, I don't know about you, but to me it doesn't look like, he's into that idea!"

"Are you sure?" Poromon asked uncertain.

"What do you mean '_are you sure_'_?_ Look at him! He's pissed off!"

"No, I mean, I think he might be stuck"

Tilting their heads, the kids and their partners looked intensely at Tyrannomon, uncertain, whether the he could pull his head out of the doorway or not.

"I mean, I have an idea how to find out..." Veemon said in a rather low voice.

"Does it involve hurting or killing him?" Mimi asked testy.

"I don't know, might as well try it on you first..." Veemon muttered.

_Beep_

"You guys still alive?" Izzy asked, "Kind of unusual for _all of you_, to shut up."

"Yeah, we're fine" Veemon said.

"Then why are you still in that temple?"

"Ah, we're having a bit of a problem here..."

"What kind?"

Conveniently, Tyrannomon just let loose a roar, albeit not a full grown one, since he still couldn't open his jaws completely.

"Yeah" Veemon said nodding, "Good summary."

"So, you couldn't defeat _three Tyrannomon?_" Izzy asked incredulously.

"Come on man, we killed one!" Veemon argued.

Mimi growled behind him.

"Again: _By accident..._" he added, rolling his eyes, "Took down a tower, too. But that's not the point. Point is, we busted the rings of the other two, but one of them seems to be a dick by default, so he chased us to the temple. Which reminds me, didn't _somebody _say the rings _turn_, them into killers?" he added louder, clearly addressing Tai, "Because so far, I can't tell the difference!"

"Fuck you!"

"Huh, that's funny..." Izzy said, "I could have sworn there was somebody with you who could pick up the egg in that temple..."

"It's my crest" Mimi stepped in, "I could pick it up."

"No, those are only meant for the rook - wait, scratch that, they are only for people with D3's" Izzy corrected himself, "Because at this point TK and Kari both have those - and now TK has _two_ eggs. So, all of you can have at least two... presumably"

"They have D3's now?" Yolei asked.

"Look, I'll explain later. We don't have time for this."

"Why does TK have two eggs, though?" Mimi asked.

"Because it's _TK_ we're talking about" Izzy explained annoyed, "He was dicking around again and picked up Kari's by accident, too."

"But why were there two in the first place?" Yolei asked, "I thought they all were -"

"Because it was an ambush!" Izzy growled, "We _did_ talk to each other, last time you called, to bitch about the Tyrannomon, right? Now, Veemon, why is it that not even you took action, here? Pick up the egg, evolve the new guy and deal with the Digimon, that's trying to kill you!"

"Oh, yeah? You try working with a team, that's two thirds pacifists and one third people who are either to dumb" he said, glaring at Davis, "or don't give a shit whether we kill 'em or not!" that comment came with an annoyed look toward Poromon and Palmon, "Voting doesn't seem to work out in favor of fighting!"

Poromon cleared his throat.

"Well, I think it's an honorable approach, not to kill your enemies, if -"

"Shut up, Poromon! You're not helping!"

"Okay, guys" Izzy said sternly, "Let's get serious for a second: I get that you don't -"

"Second's over" Davis said giggling.

Izzy went silent for a second.

"I - you have no idea how close I was, to killing you, just now, rookie" he said baffled, " _As I was saying!_ I get that you don't want to kill living beings, I do! But here is the thing: _They respawn!_ Look, I wont force you, to go for the kill at all times, _but fight!_ For fuck's sake! And if there's casualties along the way, shit happens! Life _literally_ goes on, even for the ones you kill!"

"_Okay..._ we can fight him, I guess..." Mimi mumbled begrudgingly.

"_Rookies?_" Izzy asked indignantly.

"Okay..." Yolei and Cody said in unison and Davis asked:

"What was the question?"

"_Thank you!_" Izzy said audibly relieved and ignored Davis, "On a side note, even if you _do_ kill him: he's not mind controlled anymore! He has it coming!"

"Blank, the egg?" Veemon said to Cody.

"Enjoying the nicknames we gave the rookies?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah!" Veemon chuckled and nodded, "They're great!"

Cody walked up to the egg and took a deep breath.

"I just hope my partner wont be a murderous psychopath, too..." he mumbled.

"Holy shit" Veemon said surprised, "This might be the most, he ever talked in one go!"

"Ugh, it's so annoying..." Davis sighed.

Now Veemon took a deep breath, closing his eyes, muttering some mantra to himself, most likely to keep himself from exploding.

Cody picked up the egg, then he opened up his D-Terminal, so it could absorb it.

He took a few steps back as a yellow laser beam appeared, filling the void, left behind by the egg.

"Oh, it's so pretty..." Mimi whispered in awe, "Look it's even going through that little hole in the tip of the pyramid! Wow, I wonder how high up that goes..."

"Yeah" Izzy said facetiously, "A perfect beacon for attracting even more of our enemies to your location..."

"You know, you're a real buzzkill, sometimes!" Mimi huffed.

"Well, I'm ninety nine percent certain, that, if I wasn't, all of us would have died, back on File Island - at the hands of Kuwagamon!"

Tai shuddered so loudly, they could here him on their end.

In the middle of the beam floated, what looked like a ball at first, but then it started moving and limbs and a head became clearly visible. Once the energy beam was completely gone the new arrival opened their eyes, looked at Cody and with a little yelp they immediately jumped into his arms.

"I'm free!" the Digimon exclaimed with a very feminine sounding voice and cuddled up to Cody, "You're my partner right? What's your name?"

"Um" Cody said taken aback by his partners enthusiasm, "I'm Cody"

He blushed a little and blinked repeatedly, clearly unsure of how to handle her.

"Cody? Oh, that's cool!" she said jumping off his arms; she was only about half his size but it was still enough to have him struggle to hold her up, "I'm Armadillomon!"

"Oh. My. God!" Davis said baffled, "That's exactly, what I would have called you!"

Veemon started growling and shaking with anger; Armadillomon looked precisely as her name would suggest: she was a yellow colored Armadillo with a purple underbelly and pointy ears with three tips.

"So, let me get this straight" Izzy said with a hint of irritation in his voice, "Wannabe got a male partner and now you are getting a female one? _Are we sure_, you two didn't swap eggs or something?"

"Hang on" Armadillomon said looking around, "Who said that?"

"Oh, boy this never gets old..." Izzy sighed.

He briefly explained the situation and introduced the crew to her.

"Hey, what's up?" she said cheerful waving to the group, "So you're saying, we gotta find that emperor guy and kill him, right?"

"NO!" Yolei, Mimi and Cody shouted.

"Okay, okay!" Armadillomon said scared by their outburst, "But then what's the plan?"

"Yeah, in case you couldn't tell, these three constantly shit themselves when it comes to killing." Veemon said dead panned, "I don't know man, maybe they wanna make friends with him and convince him, that he's actually being a real asshole, and that maybe he should try being nicer..."

Armadillomon stared at him.

"Yeah, I'm not really good at that sort of thing..." she said timidly, "So, I leave that up to you."

"Oh, speaking of leaving things up to you" Izzy said suddenly, "Gotta go, you guys have fun."

And he was gone.

"Why did he leave?" Armadillomon asked confused.

"Because there's another team of DigiDestined, Izzy watches out for." Veemon explained, "They're usually part of our crew, too, but we split up for this mission."

"Oh, okay" Armadillomon said, "So where's this emperor guy, we're supposed to fight?"

"No idea" Veemon replied.

"How do we find him?"

"Not a clue"

"Oh..." she said disappointed, "Then what's next?"

"Regrouping with the other team"

"Awesome! Let's go! I wanna meet the others!"

"Yeah, here is the thing" he said taking a step to the side; he was standing rather close to her and Cody so he was blocking her view at the entrance. Now she could see Tyrannomon, who roared again upon seeing the new arrival clearly, for the first time.

Veemon had a mischievous smirk on his face, expecting Armadillomon to jump at the sight - and the roar. She did, but only in excitement, exclaiming:

"Whoa! That's sick! I've never seen one of those up close!"

"Uh, don't get too excited" Veemon said, "He was mind controlled, so we freed him from the black ring enslaving him – and in return he's trying to eat us now..."

"Okay, let's take him out then!" Armadillomon said thrilled, "Come on, digivolve me! I wanna fight!"

"Don't kill him, though." Cody insisted.

"Don't worry, he'll wish he's dead when I'm done!" she with a mean smile, "Now, come on! Let's go, I'm pumped!"

"Still... that sounds a bit much..." Cody argued.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe I got carried away" she said, bouncing up down sightly, "But hey, I'm excited, can't help it!"

"God, this is gonna be so annoying..." Davis murmured.

"Yeah, maybe we should keep the caffeine away from her..." Veemon agreed.

"What? I'm talking about _him!_" Davis said, "Now that she's here, he's talking non-stop!"

"Did you have a lobotomy as a child?!"

"Look, Armadillomon" Cody said, "We are just trying to scare him away, so don't go too hard on him."

She looked away for a second, considering the suggestion.

"Nah, that's lame, let's kick his ass!"

"You know, I like that chicks attitude, though" Veemon said smirking.

"What do we do if he really is stuck, though?" Yolei asked concerned, "Maybe, if we help him to free himself, he will -"

"On it!" Veemon said darting toward Tyrannomon.

"Alright!" Armadillomon said excited, "Let's go! Digivolve me!"

"You sure -?"

"Now!"

Cody held up his D-Terminal just as Veemon headbutted Tyrannomon.

"Digi-armor energize!"

Veemon hit Tyrannomon and shoved him out of the doorway. The dinosaur seemed to have been stuck in deed, because the entrance started to crumble. Veemon was almost out, but Tyrannomon was still directly in front of him, leaving him with no choice but to crawl backwards, get up and run back inside to avoid the collapse. A piece of debris hit him in the back, knocking him to the floor.

"SHIT!" he shouted when he saw the big boulder above him, coming loose and starting to fall.

He curled up protecting his head with his arms, awaiting the impact, that would undoubtedly kill him.

It didn't happen.

Veemon opened his eyes. A large, yellow, frog like creature towered above him, holding up the stone block like Atlas. The frog had gray armor plates attached to their shoulders, which were connected to a massive red piece of armor covering their entire back. Attached to their shoulder blades were two tubes connecting two big propellers or rotor blades to their armor, looking like they were made up out of metal leafs. There was also an enormous leaf attached to the armor, in a way that it was hovering above her face, almost like it was ready to shield it. The frog carried a few shuriken with them, with blades, looking like leafs, and, equipped to their leg with a strap, a holster with a large dagger in it.

"Move!" the frog said strained, having to put up a lot of strength to hold up the boulder. They were speaking with Armadillomon's voice.

"Holy shit, now I'm sold!" Veemon said, running out from beneath her, "You're officially part of the team, now, Girly. I approve!"

"Don't call me 'Girly'! Call me Frogmon!"

"Oh, now you're definitely Girly!" Veemon chuckled, "I wanted to come up with a better nickname, but now I'm sticking with this one!"

"Ugh!" Frogmon groaned pushing the stone block forward. Apparently she had held up an integral part of the structure, since a large portion of the front collapsed afterwards. The group fled to the back of the room.

"Whoa!" Davis said looking through the windows in the back wall and seeing a shadow pass by, "He's fast! He's already at the back!"

"No, you idiot" Veemon huffed, "He's still in the front that's the second – oh, fuck! We might be screwed..."

"Awesome!" Frogmon said, "Two on one? Challenge accepted!"

She ran outside tackling the Tyrannomon that was still at the front. Despite the fact that she was only half his size, Frogmon almost managed to throw him off balance.

"Frogmon, no!" Cody shouted.

"I'll fight with her..." Veemon sighed, "Palmon, you with me!"

"No!" Mimi protested, "It's too dangerous! You're both just rookie levels!"

"So?" Veemon argued, "My headbutts are strong enough to knock these guys out. She's just the support."

"_Oh, really?_" Mimi scoffed, "He doesn't look knocked out to me!"

"Fine! But I could probably handle one on my own for a little bit, we'll figure it out together."

They ran over to the Tyrannomon that just came around from the back of the temple.

Frogmon had started throwing her leaf-shuriken at Tyrannomon. Even with her large figure, she was extremely nimble, dodging all of his attacks with ease. The shuriken however didn't seem to be very effective against the dinosaur, so she went into close combat. Quickly a battle ensued over who managed to bite their opponent more often and devastatingly. While Tyrannomon certainly had bigger jaws, Frogmon was way more agile, evading him every time. She bit him in the leg and he tried countering immediately, but she let go and with a quick kick in the side of his head she knocked him away from her. Frogmon ran around him in order to attack him from behind. Her plan almost worked, but Tyrannomon noticed her approach and spun around, hitting her with his tail sending her flying.

She was about to crash into the Pyramid, when she suddenly started spinning the leaf like blades on her back like propellers slowing her down until she stopped, hovering in mid air. Mimi and the rookies started coughing due to the large amount of dust she swirled up like that. Frogmon accelerated forward closely avoiding an incoming fireball. Halfway to her opponent she stopped her propellers and using her velocity, she flew at him and slammed him into the ground, vigorously biting into his shoulder. Tyrannomon fought back, by kicking her upwards with both of his massive legs, throwing her into the air again. This time he immediately shot a fireball after her.

She couldn't dodge this time.

"Frogmon!" Cody yelled.

Frogmon lowered her head so the large leaf above it shielded her face from the blast. The fireball hit and exploded into a large dark cloud. Out from the smoke of the explosion, a silver blade emerged, as Frogmon had grabbed her dagger and now proceeded to bring it down on Tyrannomon, while she fell back towards him. She looked completely unharmed. She buried her knife into his shoulder – in fact into the one she had bitten into before. In reaction Tyrannomon thrashed around violently. Being thrown around by his movements, Frogmon lost grip on her weapon, just as she was pulling out. The knife, which was almost as big as a person, flew in an arch over to the other side of the battlefield, just barely missing Veemon in the process.

"Whoa!" he said surprised, jumping backwards as the massive weapon penetrated the field in front of him, blade first.

Him and Palmon had only managed to distract Tyrannomon, instead of causing real damage to him, with Veemon deflecting his attacks at Palmon by headbutting him, and Palmon doing the same for Veemon by slowing him down with her vines.

However, now, Veemon saw an opportunity to land a good hit, looking at the blade, with its dull edge facing him, forming a triangle with the boulder from the pyramid, to the left, and a tree to its right.

"Yo, Palmon!" he yelled, "Get over here I've got a plan!"

Palmon quickly ran over to him.

"What's the plan?"

"Stand at the back of the dagger and shoot your vines at the tops of the boulder and that tree!"

"Okay..." she said following his orders.

She ached, once she had a grip on both of her targets, since her vines had to be stretched very far. She slid forward but the dagger held her in place.

"Can we get some more tension going?" he asked.

"_Are you joking?_" Palmon squealed.

"You know what, it's fine" Veemon said getting in front of her; the blade's sharp edge was almost pointing at the rock so Veemon could lean against it and Palmon, and the blade didn't threaten to cut her vines.

"He's onto us anyway" he added, looking at Tyrannomon now storming toward them, "Good thing this one's dumb as a brick, or otherwise he would have shot at us now... FROGMON! How about, you grab your weapon!?"

"Gimme a minute!" she shouted back; she was still struggling with the other Tyrannomon.

"We don't even have ten seconds" Veemon argued, "Let alone a minute!"

"Okay, fine!" she said, punching her opponent and then leaping backwards. The jump didn't carry her far enough, so she activated the rotors on her back and flew further backwards before softly landing in between her blade and Tyrannomon.

"_What are you doing?_" she asked in sheer confusion, looking down at her two comrades.

"You might wanna get out the way when you pull that thing out." Veemon said simply.

"Huh?" she said but then she added, "_Oooh_"

She grinned at them.

"I get it!"

She grabbed her dagger and jumped above the two, launching herself into the air, while the blade was still stuck in the ground, so she flipped over. In one fluid motion she pulled out the weapon behind her, once her upper body flung upward when she started to turn right side up again. Without stopping the movement she brought down her blade over her head and slashed at her opponent from before, who had just caught up to her.

Veemon and Palmon, on the other hand, had just been yanked forward as the tension in her vines was released. Palmon still held on to the rock and the tree, while Veemon went flying high above Tyrannomon's head and toward the treeline behind him.

"SHIIIIIT!" he yelled as he flew headfirst into a near pine tree.  
The tree shook visibly on impact and while Veemon couldn't be seen, falling down, he could clearly be heard:

"FUCK! PISS! SHIT!" he cursed, presumably shouting every time he bounced off a new tree branch, "MOTHERFUCKING -! ASS! FUCK! COCK!"

Finally he had reached the bottom. Growling angrily he emerged from the branches and hit the ground.

"Fuck." he added grumpy.

The other Tyrannomon had watched Veemon's flight, but now turned his attention to bigger game: Frogmon.

She, meanwhile, had landed a blow against her Tyrannomon cutting him lightly between his nostrils, but almost got bitten in return. She now fought a little more defensively, using her agility, her strong leaps and the propellers on her back to dodge all incoming attacks.

The other dinosaur stomped past Palmon, who had collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Mimi took the opportunity, of their enemy not paying attention to them, and sprinted over to Palmon, the rookies closely following her.

"Palmon!" she gasped before dropping to her knees next to her and picking her up gently.

"Good call" Davis said, "A T-Rex can only see you when you're moving."

"_I hate you!_" Veemon groaned, limping over to them.

"You reckless idiot!" Mimi barked at Veemon, "Look, what you did to her!"

"I did what - _shit_, what happened to her? How did she get knocked out?"

"Probably whiplash" Poromon suggested.

"Whiplash? Wha- _she didn't let go?_" he asked, before laughing, "What an idiot!"

Mimi put Palmon tenderly on the ground - before charging at Veemon.

"No!" Yolei intervened, holding her back.

"_You don't talk about my Palmon like that, or I'm gonna beat you senseless!_" Mimi shrieked.

_Beep_

"Hey, pacifist!" Veemon said threatening, "If you want a piece of me, be my guest. But if you try, while I'm on this level, you better prepare to get you're head cracked open like a coconut, _got it?!_"

"_I'll take my chances!_"

"No killing each other!" Izzy intervened.

_Beep_

"Seriously?" Veemon asked, "He jumped in, just to tell us that? Anyway, in my defense: I didn't know whiplash was a fucking foreign concept to her. I was only banking on getting _him_ knocked out!"

Mimi looked over her shoulder at Tyrannomon now running for Frogmon, then she turned to look at Veemon, eyes narrowed.

"_Yeah, I know!_" Veemon grumbled, "_Great job! _Whatever..."

Frogmon's fight had taken her and the other dinosaur bit further away, so Tyrannomon hadn't reached her yet.

"What are you waiting for?" Cody said to Veemon, nearly panicking, "Help her!"

"What? You think, I can catch up to that guy?"

"Dammit!" Cody said turning around, and running toward his partner.

"Cody, wait!" Yolei shouted.

Mimi picked up Palmon and they ran after him.

Frogmon had now realized, that she could easily outmaneuver Tyrannomon, so she started slashing at him again. He tried to bite her in the face but she ducked, cutting his arm in the process. When he snapped at her further down, she dodged to the right moving the knife in the opposite direction slicing his leg. He turned toward her but she moved the blade upward, hitting the side of his face, making him turn away again. However, when he did so, he went to hit her with his tail. She jumped backward, effectively evading the move and managed to slash across a large section of the tail at the same time.

Tyrannomon growled and retreated. Frogmon was about to go after him not realizing, the other Tyrannomon was closing in, directly behind her.

"Frogmon! Watch out!" Cody yelled, but it was too late:

She had barely time to glance over her shoulder, when the fireball hit her thrusting her forward and to the ground. Coughing she propped herself up with her arms.

"Okay..." she groaned in pain, "You got me pretty good! Props to y- _argh!_"

Tyrannomon had caught up to her before she had a chance to get up – and bit down her neck.

"NO!" Cody screamed.

Frogmon started to glow and shrink. Tyrannomon let go of her and caught the small glowing orb, she had become, in his mouth.

In shock, Cody stared at the unfolding disaster, but it didn't last long, because suddenly Tyrannomon started to gag.

The Digimon started to thrash his head around, gasping, before spitting out an enormous stream of bursting bubbles, along with a small yellow ball, with pointy ears with three tips.

Cody gasped and hurried across the field to get to her.

"Thank god! I thought he killed you!" he said picking her up.

"Well played, Tyrannomon..." she said breathlessly, "Well played... Okay, I think I'm good to go. I'm gonna finish him off!"

"_What?!_ Are you crazy?!"

"Nah, trust me I've got a plan!"

"No way! You're not fighting him on this level! You're tiny!"

"_Come on_, Cody!" she whined, "Let go!"

"I said no!" Cody said sternly, carrying her away from the lurching Tyrannomon, who was still too busy hacking from the soap in his mouth.

"_Come on!_ Veemon, back me up, we can take him down! I found his weakness!"

"Yeah, I can tell you exactly how that will work out" Veemon said dry, "He'll swallow, and that will be the end of you."

"No, seriously! I can take him!"

"Stop it, Arm- no, wait..."

Cody paused.

"What's your name now?"

"Oh, it's Upamon!" she replied merrily.

"Right, stop it Upamon."

"Aw, man..."

"Guys, let's just get out of here" Veemon suggested, watching Tyrannomon dumping his head into one of the ponds, scattered across the field, trying to wash the soap out of his mouth.

"I think, as long as he's recovering, we've got a window." he continued, "Let's just hurry. Back to the crossing, where we split, so we can find the others."

They quickly made their way across the field and back to the mountain slope.

* * *

"Okay, that's two" Izzy said sitting back in his chair, "Gatomon can you take out one more?"

"Oh, yeah I'm still doing fine" Gatomon replied relaxed, "How about three? We still have time, don't we?"

"Eh, let's not waste all of your energy you still need to find a TV for your return. Who knows what could happen in the meantime. So far it looks like, these towers have a run-of-the-mill radius of one mile. One more to be certain. Of course the definitive test would be to try digivolving more than one mile away from the nearest tower, but – let's save that for like the tenth mission. I don't see us, making it earlier... "

"Okay, on it"

"How many times? It's called power napping!" Tai said from behind the lab's door; since the fight was over, he had left to take a bathroom break. Apparently he had bumped into somebody on the way back. Somebody, critical of his sleeping habits.

The door slid open and Izzy wasn't very surprised to see Matt enter the room next to Tai.

"Matt" he said calm, "To what do we owe the honor?"

"You wrote me an e-mail, to bring you my Digivice" Matt said raising an eyebrow.

"You people tend to ignore my e-mails, so I didn't exactly consider this to be the reason." Izzy said plainly, "Nice to see _someone_ pays attention, though..."

"Is that my brother?" TK asked.

"How many Matts do we know?"

"Hi, Matt" Kari said.

"Hey guys" Matt said simply, "Here it is" he added giving Izzy his Digivice.

"Thank you" Izzy said, "We can track down Gabumon with this."

"Good. Still can't believe they didn't stick together, though" Matt muttered.

"That's hypocritical..."

"Whatever" Matt huffed, "How is the mission going?"

"Pretty – _amazing_ actually" Tai said, seemingly surprised about the fact, he could state that, alone.

"Eh, could have been better" Izzy shrugged, "Then again it's probably my fault, for not including the TK-factor into my calculations..."

"What happened?" Matt moaned.

"Look" TK said, "I was trying to make a joke... aaand mistakes were made."

"He can explain later..." Izzy said.

Tai chuckled.

"Still, man, when you pulled off that land slide... shit, that was crazy, dude"

"Why thanks" Izzy said with a little smirk, "They needed to cross a lava lake, Matt. So, I thought of a number of methods on how to 'built' them a bridge, but I settled on erasing some data from a cliff side, to make some big chunks slide into the lake, because I made some calculations and figured, it would be the most likely to succeed. To be honest, I originally wanted to take some big boulders, add them into some sort of clipboard and then drop them into the lake from above. That way, I could have pretty much guaranteed to make a perfect bridge."

"But?" Matt asked.

"But I couldn't get it to work like that. I mean, I'm confident I _could_ have, but it would have been way more time consuming and it already took me an hour to prepare _this_ method – and that's not taking the time into account, it took me to find a spot, I could manipulate like that. That said, smiting enemies with it, only came to mind, when I started considering the pros and cons of both methods, in order to decide which one to go with."

"Sounds like a good reason to me" Matt shrugged.

"Man, you were right" Tai admitted, "If it wasn't for you, we _would_ be long dead... I gotta say, though, the entire mission is going waaay better than expected. Even for the rookies. I thought they'd probably kick the bucket today."

Izzy gave him a long, skeptical look.

"Spoke too soon?" Tai asked, before Izzy unmuted Team-semi-diposable's channel.

"_Somebody get Gatomon!_" they heard Davis shriek in terror.

"Spoke too soon..." Tai sighed.

* * *

When Gatomon's Lightning Paw hit the base of the dark tower, its base started cracking immensely until the structure split and fell over.

"Alright, three down" TK said.

"Thank you, TK" Gatomon said rolling her eyes, "I can count, too... Whoa, check this out" she added pointing at the portion of the tower that had fallen off. It came to a stop at first but then slid a bit further almost falling over the edge of the cliff, it was located at, but balancing itself on the rim.

"Pretty cool, huh?" she said with a smirk.

"Eh" TK said, "You didn't call it though"

"Oh, shut up"

Suddenly the cliff side collapsed, just in front of them. They backed away from it.

"Careful, _careful!_" Gatomon said indignantly, "Lava lake!"

They had almost backed up to the edge of a lake behind them, but came to a stop in time, since the cliff had stopped collapsing. Now they found themselves just before the new edge of the cliff.

"That was weird" TK said taken aback.

"Yup" Gatomon agreed, "guess that means it's time to go"

They turned to leave when suddenly a massive flame shot across the ground in front of them cutting them off.

"Fuck!" TK said annoyed, "I thought we were done with fucking setups for today!"

"Apparently not" Gatomon snorted.

"Well" a smug voice said.

They looked up to the source of the flame.

An Airdramon hovered in front of them, blocking their way. On his back was a boy, about the same age as them, with spiky black hair and golden framed shades.

"I just knew, I was dealing with some sneaky little Jews." the Emperor said with an evil grin.


	6. Wannabe's Fabulous Day

-x-

**Chapter Six**

**Wannabe's Fabulous Day**

"So, how far is he off?" Izzy asked leaning back in his chair and putting his head back.

"Well, if we keep running we _might_ live another five minutes" Veemon responded hectically, "No promises, though."

"And _all of you_ are out of energy?"

"Yup. Eh, could still dish out some headbutts, but I - don't think those do that much against these guys..."

Matt leaned over to Tai, murmuring something smugly.

"_Fuck you, Matt!_" Tai bellowed, "How the fuck would _you_ know if he was a better leader? You missed the entire first mission and most of this one, and half the time, when we were still running together, you either went off on your own or stabbed me in the back!"

"A) I was manipulated to do that" Matt fired back, "and B) you kind of had it coming!"

"Is that Matt?" Mimi asked from the other end, "_Hi, Matt!_"

"Oh, hi Mimi..." Matt said, who was clearly not expecting to hear her, "She's just visiting, right?" he added whispering toward Izzy.

Izzy nodded.

"Thank god..."

"How have you been?" she asked bubbly, "It's been sooo long!"

"Well, I was doing just fine... right up until now..."

"Aw, come on!" she said teasingly, "Don't be so grumpy! I know deep down, you missed me, too!"

"Then I guess, I haven't looked deep enough, yet..."

"Act all you want, but we all know, how you really feel about us -"

"_Princess, we are running for our lives!_" Veemon panted baffled, "How the fuck do you still have enough air in your lungs, to babble that much?"

"Well, I'm working out with my friends and we talk a lot, when we do. Do you really think you could maintain this figure, without doing some cardio? I mean, I thought about doing this whole bulimia thing, but my parents kept telling me, that would end up killing me, so..."

"I am _seriously_ considering, running back to Tyrannomon, so he can eat me, right now!"

"Don't do it, Veemon" Izzy said calm, "We still need you. Now, climb up that rocky slope to your left, go up to the top and down the other side. The hill could slow him down, and you should reach the lava lakes sooner."

"_Lava lakes?_" the team asked puzzled.

"Just go!" Izzy said annoyed, "You'll meet the others there. Speaking of which: Guess who just got loud again. I'll check on you later."

Izzy switched channels.

"Please, let it just be TK, throwing another tantrum..." Tai muttered tense.

Immediately, when the other groups audio came up, they heard TK yelling at someone (Kari's camera pointed straight ahead at a rock so they couldn't see, who it was):

"I mean, who do you think you are, you so called EMPEROR, treating everyone like shit and acting like you're some sort of... uh... king..."

"Huh, guess we'll get to know our enemy, now." Izzy said impassive.

* * *

"Uh..." the Emperor said taken aback, "Didn't see that outburst coming... What's his problem?"

"_Do I really need to repeat myself?_"

"TK, you have my attention, now" Izzy stepped in, "So, no need to yell much more."

"Because I can tell you in my normal voice, too... if that helps..."

"Okay..." the Emperor said confused.

"Very subtle... Just keep him talking, while I figure out a strategy for you guys. Oh, and don't reply to me, directly. Let's not give him the the benefit of knowing, I'm watching over you guys. Kari, mind filming him and your surroundings? _Subtly?_ I just need some visuals."

"So..." TK said awkwardly, "What's up with those dark towers? You built those?"

"Do you honestly expect me to tell you _anything_ of value?" the Emperor scoffed.

"Guess not" TK said rolling his eyes, now growing a little more confident again, "So, what are you up to? _Wait_, don't tell me! You're here to kill us, right? Am I close?"

"Something like that" he said before snapping his fingers.  
From the bundle of fur at the end of Airdramon's tail, a small, green, worm like creature emerged.

"Right!" the worm said sounding somewhat uncertain, but trying to play it down, "You better do as he says! He is serious! He will end you all!"

"What the fuck is that?" TK giggled.

"Ugh! Not you, maggot!" the Emperor groaned, "You really think, you could intimidate even a small child? Get back in there, before I throw you into the lava!"

Gasping the worm quickly retreated back into the tail end.

"Now, for our real special guest" the Emperor said as the earth started to shake lightly from massive foot steps, and turned his head towards the source: It was a massive orange dinosaur, like the Tyrannomon, similar to a Tyrannosaurus in appearance, but with three fingers, blue stripes across his back and a blackened, horned skull covering the upper half of his head.

Greymon. The evolved form of Tai's partner Agumon.

"I believe, you know each other." The Emperor said grinning, "Guess your old friend doesn't like you that much, anymore, am I right, Greymon?"

"Yes..." Greymon growled.

"Ha!" Gatomon said, trying to sound unimpressed, but she swallowed audibly, "He's bluffing... right, guys? Guys?"

"Gatomon, I just checked with Tai's Digivice, that _is_ Tai's partner."

"Well, shit..."

"And now..." the Emperor said giving Airdramon a signal. The dragon flew a small circle around them coming to a halt to their right, while Greymon stomped to the left side of the lava lake, effectively robbing them of any escape route.

"Now we can pin you down even better." he concluded his statement.

"Seriously?" Gatomon asked challenging, "You don't have the balls to fight a bunch of rookie-levels and one champion-level with you're Airdramon alone?"

"This isn't about balls, pussy cat" the Emperor said, "This is about efficiency! Sending half a dozen minions after you apparently wasn't enough!"

"So, you decided to use three, instead" Gatomon said, now actually unimpressed, "Of which, one is a rookie-level?"

"The little maggot was never part of the plan!"

"My point still stands."

The Emperor let loose a high pitched giggle.

"Sure, go ahead and assume I came unprepared" he chuckled, "Make my job easier and dig your own graves. But to answer your question, I figured, if you want something done right" he said and suddenly his he sounded serious again, downright dark, "Do it yourself. We're at war. It's very clear that you are purposefully destroying my property, so I'm not taking any half measures anymore. I'm gonna finish you off, right here... Although coming to think of it, you managed to steal the eggs, I planted, too. I tell you what: You hand them back over and tell me what the deal with those things is and I might spare you kids and only take out your Digimon, how does that sound, eh?"

"Like eating your own shit." TK said grim.

"Funny" the Emperor said, "Considering that's exactly what I'll make you do in a minute."

"No, you got that backwards" Gatomon laughed, "It's funny, because that's what _we're_ gonna make _you_ do, _Emperor._" she added mockingly.

The Emperor cackled.

"_Sure!_ Bring it on! Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets! How long is she gonna last against Greymon _and_ Airdramon? My bet is less than a minute. But what about you, huh? How do _you_ like your chances, kitty?"

If Gatomon's looks could kill, surely, the Emperor would have spontaneously combusted.

"Can I just kill him?" she asked annoyed, "The rookies aren't here. We could just tell 'em, it was an accident or... he disappeared or whatever..."

"That's the plan, Gatomon." Izzy and TK said.

"Don't let the rookies know" Izzy added, "but the actually plan is the usual one: killing our enemy, the first chance we get. Now, think you can throw him off his high horse?"

Gatomon looked at the Emperor; the way Airdramon was hovering had him be positioned right above the lake.

"Tricky..." she mumbled, "Tentomon? Get ready to catch me."

"What? Where?" he asked confused.

"NOW!"

And she jumped, directly toward the Emperor but Airdramon reacted, flying up to move his master out of harms way. Improvising, Gatomon hit Airdramon with her Lightning-paw instead. The impacted was heavy, throwing Airdramon to the side, causing the the Emperor to desperately cling to the reigns and Airdramon's back, so he wouldn't fall off.

Tentomon, meanwhile, had finally realized what Gatomon meant and hurried to catch her and prevent her from falling into the lava.

"GATOMON!" Kari screamed, fearing she would fall in.

But Tentomon caught her. Just when she settled safely on his back, a fireball swept over their heads and hit Airdramon, who was still struggling to stabilize his flight. It came from Greymon.

"He's fighting it!" Tentomon exclaimed excited, "He's turning against them!"

"Uh..." Gatomon said looking at Greymon who's eyes where still glowing red, "No, I think that was meant for us. You know him, he couldn't even hit a beached Whamon, if it was directly in front of him."

Greymon roared in defiance.

Using the chaos the group ran along side the lava lake, away from Greymon. Since the Emperor's side just had cleared up, they were able to slip past him and out of the undesirable position they had been trapped in.

"You fucking idiot!" the Emperor shouted angry, "Attack _them!_ Not us!"

"Like I said" Gatomon giggled, "He tried! Tentomon get me closer to Greymon! TK, evolve Patamon again!"

"_Again?_" TK asked confused, "Wait, can we just spam the eggs?" he added excited.

"No" Izzy stepped in, "You still need to pay attention to how much energy Patamon has left. So far it looks like one egg will only provide one energy boost, per day. However, you have two, _remember?_"

"Oh shit, that's right!" TK said opening his D-Terminal, "Digi-armor energize!"

Immediately Patamon started to glow and digivolve.

"Patamon armor-digivolve tooo..." he exclaimed, "Manbomon!"

"Holy shit..." TK said dumbfounded, "_What the fuck happened?_"

Patamon had turned into, what looked like a large, silver colored blue tang, with blue stripes forming a circular pattern. Instead of lateral fins he had arms with red boxing gloves.

"See TK?" Kari said annoyed, "This is what happens, when you steal other people's eggs!"

"Gimme a break!" TK responded, "That would be a stupid punishment! Why wouldn't it stop me from picking up the egg, instead of this dumb – actually, you know what? That sounds exactly like the kind of bullshit, the Digital World would pull off, never mind..."

Unfortunately for them Manbomon seemed to be a literal fish out of water: He hit the ground and started flopping around wildly.

"Oh, oh!" he gasped, "Guys, I'm having a bit of a problem here!"

"Perfect!" the Emperor exclaimed, "Go for them, they're wide open!"

"God, damn it!" TK said annoyed, "Well, looks like this is it..."

"TK, I swear, if my sister dies -!" Tai started but TK cut him off:

"What are you gonna do?" he hissed, "Track me down in afterlife, so you can kill me _again?_"

"Then, you better make sure you fucking die, too!" Tai said, "Trust me, you don't want _me_ to kill you!"

"Oh, don't worry! I'm pretty sure, all of us are gonna bite the dust!"

Airdramon turned around and proceeded to breath fire at them.

"Hang on! I got this!" Manbomon said and used all his strength to flop to the side. In a beautiful arch he flew high up – directly into the path of Airdramon's attack.

Manbomon took the brunt of the fire, successfully protecting the kids.

"Shit, are you okay, Manbomon?" TK asked worried.

"Yeah, I'll be fine" the fish answered in pain, "I can take a few more for the team!"

"We'll see about that!" the Emperor taunted.

Airdramon attacked again - and once again Manbomon managed to flop at the right time to block the entirety of the flames with the broad side of his body.

"Go again!" the Emperor ordered, "He can't keep this up forever!"  
And yet again Manbomon held the defenses.

"Ugh..." the Emperor growled, "_Again!_"

Another assault, another successful defense.

"_Come on!_" the cloaked boy yelled, "Just – _whoa!_"

A barrage of fireballs came flying their way and barely missed the boy and his Airdramon. The Emperor looked over to Greymon, just to see that he was trying to fend off Gatomon and Tentomon, who came flying his way.

"Try something else!" the Emperor shouted, "You almost hit us, you moron!"

"I told you, it would work!" Gatomon said satisfied, "Keep going at him like this!"

"But now he wont fire anymore!" Tentomon argued.

"Ya, well... everything has its pros and cons! Get ready to buck me off, I'm going in!"

They had reached Greymon, and Tentomon bucked Gatomon off, reusing their strategy from the fight against the Ogremon previously. Gatomon jumped straight toward his neck and struck him.

"Dammit!" she called out; she had aimed for the ring around his neck, but only hit his jaw line instead.

Tentomon caught her, as she fell. They were just in front of another cliff side higher up, when Greymon fired at them again. The blast broke off a bunch of chunks from the rocks, forcing them to -

"DODGE!" Gatomon yelled.

Tentomon managed to evade the falling debris, even if it was just barely. The pair made another another approach at their friend.

"Perfect!" Gatomon said, "Great angle! I can do it this time!"

"Oh, no you don't!" the Emperor cut in.

Airdramon made a sharp turn flying around a rock spire. When they emerged from the other side, the Emperor was pointing something at Greymon.

Suddenly the dinosaur was consumed by an enormous explosion. It looked like he had exploded into a massive black cloud. Gatomon and Tentomon soon shot out of the cloud, as they were knocked away by the shock wave.

"No!" Kari gasped, "Did he just -"

But before she could finish that horrific thought, something big rose out of the smoke. Parting the plum, was what resembled the skeletal remains of Greymon. The being had long finger like bone structures on its back, implying that it had wings before it died. Also on its back it wore a massive, red, organic looking missile. The creature stood up fully and roared, with the cloud now being blown away by this action alone, giving all bystanders a good first glimpse at the power this monster possessed.

"What..." the Emperor said in disbelief, "... is _that?_"

"TK..." Kari said, staring at the fiend in front of them, wide eyed,

"_Is that, who I think it is?_" she asked shaken.

"Yeah..." TK said numb, "That is SkullGreymon..."

"No... no! NO!" the Emperor shouted furious, "This is impossible! _My plan was absolutely perfect!_ It's supposed to be MetalGreymon! How did this happen?"

"This is what you get for playing god, asshole!" TK shouted now shaking with anger, "Enslaving Digimon and experimenting on them! I hope he'll blow you up first, because this fucker doesn't take orders from anyone!"

"Guys, retreat!" Izzy said sternly, "It's no use. TK, you know, what kind of damage he can cause!"

"Yeah..." TK said backing away from the skeleton, "Come on, let's go. Now!"

"_Gatomon! Tentomon!_" Kari yelled.

Gatomon got back up, staring at their newest opponent.

"Alright" she said with a nervous laugh, while backing off, too, "Looks like this is a wrap, everybody! Time to go home! Tentomon, move your ass!"

Tentomon was still coming to. She stormed past him, grabbed one of his antennas and dragged him along, behind herself.

"Wha – _ow! I'm awake!_" Tentomon protested dazed, "I'm awake, what – oh, _god! Where did he come from?_"

"Less babbling, more running!" Gatomon responded, throwing him into the air, in front of her. He reacted quickly, spun around and started to fly away, while Gatomon kept up with him, sprinting on all fours.

Meanwhile the Emperor seemed to have recovered from his initial shock, since he cackled at the sight of the team fleeing his creation in terror.

"That's right!" he shouted delightful, "Run, like the cowards, you are! But don't think you can outrun – _ah!_"

A missile barely missed Airdramon, overshooting them and crashing into the hills behind them. The explosion was strong enough to pass as a miniature version of a nuclear bomb, destroying the hill it hit completely and making a nearby dark tower collapse.

The missile came from SkullGreymon.

"_What are you doing?!_" the raven haired boy screamed, "They are your enemies! Not us! _Obey!_"

Again he pointed something at SkullGreymon the black ring around his neck started to glow dark red, but SkullGreymon didn't seem to care: He stomped toward them, swinging at them with his enormous arms.

"STOP!"

Airdramon turned away and started to circle SkullGreymon – although he kept his distance, doing so.

Using the distraction of their enemies the kids and their partners had managed to cover a lot of ground, almost having reached the end of the canyon they came in from.

"Look out for a TV, so you can get out of there" Izzy said.

"Man" TK said, "Gotta tell you, this area doesn't look very TV heavy."

"Just keep looking" Izzy insisted, "I'm having an eye on the data in this area and on the map. No guarantees, but there's a chance, I can spot one for you."

A shriek pulled their attention back to SkullGreymon and the Emperor:

"You wanna use _him?!_" the worm asked horrified.

They stopped and looked back.

"Who are they talking about?" Kari asked unnerved.

"And what are they doing?" TK added.

"_Yes_" Izzy said, "What _are _they doing? Kari, your camera is filming the rocks again!"

"Sorry!"

Kari pointed her camera at SkullGreymon; a weak stream of data floated away from the skeleton toward the Emperor and whatever he was holding in his hand.

"Okay..." Izzy said nervous.

Suddenly a stray missile flew toward them, obliterating the hill next to them. The explosion threw them off their feet and dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.

"Shit! Sis, are you okay?" Tai said worried into Izzy's microphone.

"Yeah..." Kari moaned, when they got back up.

"Look, just go!" Izzy pressed, "I don't see this scenario getting much better for you guys. Just book it, alright?"

"Okay" TK said looking around, as they turned to run again "Let's keep going this way we should -"

He stopped looking toward a hill to their right.

"Holy shit" he said pleasantly surprised, "I never thought I'd say this but -"

"TK" Izzy interrupted, "In case you're about to say something along the lines of 'I'm happy to see the rookies' – how do I phrase this..."

"RUN!" Veemon yelled, waving his arms at them, as he and the rest of Team Semi-Disposable ran down the hillside, "_RUUUN!_"

"Yeah, don't get up your hopes too high..."

TK tilted his head.

"What are they – Oh! What the fuck?!"

Just when he started to wonder, what the problem was, the Tyrannomon chasing the team came into view, as he reached the top of the hill.

"_SERIOUSLY?!_" he yelled at them, "Izzy told us you had _three_ Tyrannomon, to deal with! You have three Digimon with you who can digivolve! _Why is there STILL one left?!_"

"Uh, because I had to work with_ fucking Greenpeace_ apparently!" Veemon answered equally annoyed.

"You see, this is why you never leave loose ends!" TK shouted back, "If they try to kill you, kill them! It's killing or being killed!"

"Amen..." Izzy said.

"Whatever!" Veemon growled, when they had almost reached the others, "Either we find a way to take him out or we find a TV so we can -"

He couldn't finish his sentence; Tyrannomon had gotten fairly close to them, but before he could do anything, one of SkullGreymon's missiles had hit the dinosaur, vaporizing him on impact and knocking Team Semi-Disposable to the ground in front of their team-mates.

"Well..." Veemon grunted, as he stood back up, "That was convenient... Where the hell did that come fr- HOLY FUCK! _What in the fucking hell is that thing?!_" he added shocked, when he spotted SkullGreymon.

"That's a SkullGreymon!" Poromon said, "Bloody hell! How did that happen?"

"There's a concept called 'debriefing'!" Izzy stepped in, "Let's do that, once you're back in the human world! You know? _Once you're not running for your lives anymore?_"

"Guys!" TK shouted over to them, "I found a monitor, let's get the fuck out of here!"

He had run up a small path between to large rocks. There was a small gray monitor laying on it's side, at the end of it.

The group ran over to him and Yolei went to open the gate.

"Wait!" Kari said suddenly. She was peaking out from behind the rock, between them and SkullGreymon.

"I can't see the Emperor anywhere."

"So?" Veemon asked incredulously, "I see a giant skeleton, firing fucking nukes at us!"

"No, I mean -" she said frantically, "We can get to him, once he becomes Agumon again! We can still save him!"

"Kari, I highly doubt the Emperor has completely abandoned him." Izzy argued, "He probably had the same thought as you"

"But -" she said upset, looking back and forth between her friends and the raging, undead monster. Another explosion. This time the hill behind the end of the path was annihilated – and luckily for them, yet another dark tower fell victim to SkullGreymon's brute force.

"_GO!_" Tai yelled on the other end.

Yolei opened the gate and the first few of them made their way through.

"Well, on the bright side, he keeps taking out dark towers" TK shrugged, "Less work for us... Kari, move it!"

Kari still hesitated.

"Come on!" Mimi said grabbing her by the wrist, pulling her into the glow of the gate.

* * *

It was true, the water, that flooded the lab, seemed to disappear in mere seconds. At least the "digital" water did.

"_Poor Agumon..._" Kari sobbed. Unlike the others, she was still sitting on the floor, crying over the fact that Agumon was still enslaved by the Emperor.

Tai immediately went to his sister, kneeling down next to her and giving her a hug.

"It's okay" he said soothingly, "You're alright, that's more important."

"It's not!" Kari protested into his shoulder.

"It is" he reassured her with a sad smile and a quick eye-roll, "Knock it off..."

"Well..." Izzy said somber, "That was... unfortunate..."

"Really, dude?" Tai asked annoyed.

"What do you want me to say, Tai? All hope is lost, let's have a damn moment of silence for Agumon? Who is still alive, I might add! No, I already have a few ideas, of how to get him back, so let's try not to act like this is the end of the world."

"Fair..." Tai mumbled.

A knock on the door.

"Uh, hello?" a man on the other side said, "Your pizza is here!"

"When did you order that?" Izzy said bewildered, looking at Tai.

"On the way to the bathroom" Tai said, standing up and approaching the door, "Also, you told me to!"

He opened the door.

"What's up?" he said to the delivery guy, a young man with brown hair, probably around seventeen, fist bumping him.

"Hey, man" the guy greeted back, "Uh, am I interrupting something?" he added looking at the scene of angst and despair unfolding in front of him.

"No, it's cool" Tai sighed, handing him some money, "That should cover it, right?"

"Yup" the pizza guy said after a quick count.

"Keep the change"

The guy incredulously looked at the minuscule amount of change in his hand, then up to Tai.

"How generous..." he muttered

"What? I'm fucking broke, right now!" Tai justified himself.

"Fine..." he said, turning to leave, "See ya, Tai"

"Later, man"

Tai closed the door and turned to face the others, four large boxes of pizza in his hands.

"Soooo, uh... pizza, anyone?"

The group stared at him. The only thing, saving the situation from complete silence, was Kari's sniffling.

"When I told you 'Order some pizza later', I meant '_Order some pizza, once we know for sure, that the damn mission is a success!_'"

"Well, it looked like it was going great, at the time!"

Matt sighed.

"If only I had gotten one yen, for each time I heard you say that..."

"Shut. Up." Tai growled, "Wannabe!" he added and whistled to get her attention.

Once she looked up, he threw a pizza box at her. She caught it, albeit a bit clumsy, put it on her lap and opened it immediately.

"Salami!" she said and looked like she was melting away, thanks to the smell alone, "I got my partner, I got my pizza – this is the best day ever!"

Now the team glared at _her_.

"I mean..." she backpedaled, "It – it would be, if everyone wasn't all sad..."

"Yeah" Veemon chuckled, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box, Tai had placed in the middle of the floor, for the Digimon to eat from, "Are all of your parties as kick-ass as a damn funeral service?"

"One of our friends was kidnapped and is now probably experimented on" Tai said dark, "What the fuck do you expect?"

"So your always having pizza parties when one of your team-mates is in mortal danger?" Veemon asked unfazed.

Tai hesitated, Kari started to sob again, and Matt decided to elaborate:

"Well, pizza parties aren't the norm. _However..._" he added glaring at Tai, next to him.

"Oh, fuck off!" Tai demanded, "You just gotta bring up this Sora story, again! I get it! It's been a week, since the last time! Gotta bitch about it again!"

"Well, you don't need to look any further than this, to know what a shitty leader you were!"

"All I said was 'Let's all get plenty of rest, so we'll be focused and ready to save her'! What's so shitty about that?!"

"Well, for starters, sleeping for twelve hours straight, is a little beyond 'plenty of rest'!"

"Well, never mind!" Veemon laughed, jumping on a chair to get a better viewpoint, "Alright guys, who's gonna win this? My money is on Emo-kid. Anyone for crows-nest? Do I hear crows-nest?"

Matt and Tai exchanged one last angry stare, before quickly turning their heads away from one another.

"No! Come on, keep going!" Veemon said disappointed, but Matt and Tai remained silent, "Ah, great..." he muttered taking another bit from his pizza.

What followed was the very definition of awkward silence.

Upamon, who was resting on Cody's lap, looked around.

"So... I'm Upamon, by the way!" she said joyful, "Hi, everyone!"

TK stared at her, his mouth opened slightly.

"Why does Blank have a girl for a partner?"

"Why does everybody keep asking that?" Upamon asked confused.

"I know, right?" Poromon added, "They keep asking me the same thing."

"What? And she has a guy?" TK asked now even more baffled.

"Yeah..." Izzy sighed, swallowing his last bite of pizza (He had already finished his half of the pizza him and Tai were sharing), "I had hopes, that they had both picked up the wrong egg, respectively. But Poromon over here" he continued, pointing at Yolei's partner, "told us he was sealed under a different egg. So I guess, the correct people are necessary to set them free. And we know, as soon as Wannabe touched the egg Veemon was sealed under, it got heavier. Meaning they couldn't pick up the eggs that aren't meant for them. On the plus side, thanks to Poromon's information I have now pin pointed the location of the egg of love."

"Wait, _love?_" Matt asked puzzled, "I thought the eggs had our crests on them?"

"Oh, that's right. Turns out we got some weird, twisted version of the crests we were supposed to get." Izzy explained, "For example yes, Sora's crest was 'lust' but it was supposed to be 'love'."

"Eh, I guess that's not too far off..." Matt shrugged, "What was mine supposed to be?"

"Friendship" Izzy said and Tai started laughing.

Even TK and Mimi started giggling softly.

"_What's so funny about that?_"

"Oh, where to start?" Tai chuckled.

"By all means, I'm _dying, _to hear your take on it!"

"Matt, let's all take a deep breath and be realistic" Izzy said, "Your current crest is clearly the better fit."

"_Whatever!_" Matt growled crossing his arms, "Do we at least know, why we got the the 'seven deadly sins edition', though?"

"So far my best guess is: Gennai fucked up again." Izzy said dry.

"That's your answer to _everything_."

"It has been true ninety nine percent of the time, now hasn't it? Anyway, like I said, we know where the next egg is and I'm already working on a plan, to get it and maybe we can combine that with a rescue mission for Agumon, too."

"Really?" Tai said, sitting up, "How so?"

"I said, I'm working on it. I have some ideas but... nothing solid yet. Give it some time, I'll come up with something soon. Anyway, let's get to the debriefing process, get everybody up to speed... So long story short, TK is an idiot - oh, wait, we already knew that."

"_I said, I was sorry..._" TK growled, "Can you knock it off, man?"

"What?" Izzy said somewhat surprised, "I meant everyone in here already knows about your stupid little stunt. We're all on the same page, that's all."

"Yeah, right..." TK grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, on the bright side, that means we just managed to obtain four eggs, this mission alone. That being said, knowing our luck, we're looking at three more eggs to go... so basically three or four more missions, at least."

"That reminds me" TK said suddenly, "What eggs did they get?"

"Cody got mine" Mimi said, "Wait, what's mine actually mean? You said they all had different meanings."

"Good question..." Izzy said, who didn't know since Veemon never gave a clear answer, "Veemon?"

"It's either 'sincerity'..." Veemon munched, "Or 'honesty', or 'purity'... or 'responsibility'."

"Well, which is it?" Mimi asked taken aback.

"I don't know!" Veemon said, "I don't know why, but I heard like ten versions of what your crest and the real version of 'greed' are. People keep confusing these two for some reason..."

"So, yeah" Izzy said, "Cody's got – whatever Mimi's crest means and Wannabe... ugh..."

"_Oh, that's right!_" Yolei said excited, "I got your crest Izzy-Senpai! This day keeps getting better and... better..." she slowed down looking at everybody's faces.

"Okay then!" Izzy said, "Moving on! School wont be open forever."

Suddenly Mimi gasped.

"What time is it?" she asked hectically, checking her watch, "Aw, I gotta go! Gotta met up with Dad in the city, pack up my things..."

"Mimi?" Izzy asked suspiciously, "When exactly are you planning on flying back?"

Mimi hesitated.

"Tomorrow at 6 a. m."

"You came to Japan... _for a day?_" Izzy asked baffled, "Isn't that at _least_ a fourteen hour flight?"

"Well, yeah... I mean it was very spontaneous and also I wanted to see my little Palmon, so bad! Anyway, I really gotta run now!" She added hectically making another quick round, hugging her friends before hurrying to the door.

"Speaking of Palmon!" Izzy interrupted her sternly, and Mimi froze as she put her hand on the door, "Where do you think, you're taking her?"

"Like... back home with me... or something..." Mimi mumbled quietly.

"Absolutely not, Mimi."

"_Why not?!_"

"Remember how electronics tend to mess up, when our partners are around?"

"He's right" Tai said, "I was trying to microwave something, with Agumon next to me, once. His stomach started to rumble, and I almost ended up burning our apartment down."

"So?" Mimi argued, "They don't use those on planes, do they?"

"Even if they didn't, that's not the issue, Mimi!" Izzy said impatiently, "The problem is, the planes electronics might mess up, the plane might crash and all of you might die. That means you and your Dad, too. Oh, and Palmon, too. Which means she would be gone for good, remember?"

Mimi grumbled quietly for a few seconds, then she put Palmon on the floor groaning in frustration.

"Fine!" she exclaimed pouting, before leaning down to Palmon to hug her tightly, "I'm sorry, Palmon! I'll come back to see you again, promise!"

"Mimi!" Palmon sobbed.

Ten minutes later they had finished their tearful goodbye and Mimi ran off to meet with her Dad in time.

"So, yeah" Izzy said, "We'll send you Digimon back to the Digital World shortly, to look for Gabumon."

"Okay" Gatomon said, "You found him yet? On the map, I mean"

"I did. He's near... what was that place called?"

He froze, looking at the map.

"_Dev Lagoon_... I am going to ignore that..."

"Really? Dev Lagoon?" Gatomon asked looking at him attentively.

"Yes, what about it?"

"Uh... nothing, it's just..." Gatomon said fumbling with her words, "That's quite a trip isn't it? Even from Temp City, that's really far"

"Not really" Izzy said calm, "We're gonna send you in with Matt's Digivice. That should bring you right to the general area he's in."

"What?" Tai asked confused, "You told us it doesn't work that way! You said that's why we couldn't go after Agumon right away! What the hell, man?"

"Tai, I was desperately looking for good reasons, not to include Mimi on this mission. Telling her we would struggle to find her partner, seemed like the perfect excuse – you know, up until TK and Patamon ruined that strategy for me!"

"Uh, yeah..." TK said awkwardly, "Sorry about that..."

"_Obviously_ you will be send to your partners location, if they're in there! And all those other shitty theories I made up, so she wouldn't get suspicious."

"Why are so mean to Mimi?" Palmon asked saddened.

"Because she irritates the hell out of me, Palmon." Izzy said, "You know that. It's nothing personal, though. Lately there's been so much uh... off putting shit..." he added briefly glancing at the rookies, "I just wanted to keep the mission from derailing entirely... Anyway, I'd say we send all of you except for the rookies' partners. We'll only need one of your D3's. Brainiac, Veemon is already in his rookie-state so we'll use yours.

"Why?" Davis asked.

"Because, Gatomon doesn't need to evolve in there" Izzy explained, "Therefore sending her in with Kari's D3 would be pointless. Also, next time we send the crew in, they'll be transported directly to their Digimon, since Gatomon is in there and Kari is in this world"

He paused looking at both Kari and Gatomon.

"I assume she will go in there like last time, right?"

"Yeah..." Kari nodded, wiping her eyes. Her brother had successfully calmed her down, so she wasn't crying anymore. However she was still sitting on the floor, hugging her legs and staring straight ahead with glossy eyes.

"It's for the best..." she continued softly.

"Good" Izzy said, "But before we send you off, we got some more stuff to discuss. Apart from the eggs, we also have two other additions: We found Cody's and Yolei's partners. First up – she already introduced herself – we have Cody's partner Upamon. Also known by her rookie name, Armadillomon. Take a wild guess what she looks like in that form."

"Hey, everyone!" Upamon said happy.

"Hey..." the crew responded, not _quite_ as happy.

"And this right there" Izzy said, "Is Poromon aka Hawkmon. Yolei's partner. Same thing here... it's been a while since we came across an inventive name, hasn't it?"

"Hello, there" Poromon said friendly.

"Uh... Izzy-Senpai?" Yolei asked timidly, "How come, he is a bird... that turns into a dragonfly?"

"How come he has a British accent, when he looks like he's supposed to be an Indian?" TK argued.

"Native American, TK..." Kari said quietly, still staring blankly ahead.

TK sighed at her political correctness.

"Fine, whatever... Point is, Patamon here, turns into a ten feet tall angle - and today he turned into a fish, for some reason! At this point, I feel like this is how things work in the Digital World... just get used to it. Nothing makes sense... _ever_."

"I'm sure it makes sense, somehow..." Yolei remarked.

"Oh, yeah?" TK interrupted, "One of our enemies looked like a guy in a monkey costume, doing Elvis-impressions. Try making sense of that!"

"Speaking of enemies" Izzy stepped in, "It appears we have learned quite a bit about our most recent opponent."

"We have?" Tai asked raising an eyebrow.

"_Yes._ We have! We were watching the same stream, right? We learned, that the dark towers are at least connected to him."

"Really?" TK asked, "But he never said that!"

"No, but the things he _did_ say, pointed in that direction. It's true, he never confirmed that he built them, however he later stated, you were purposefully destroying his property. Since the towers are the only things you really went after, it's safe to say he thinks of those things as his property. Whether he built them or not, that's another story. Sure, the most obvious assumption is that he built them, but there's also the possibility that some other entity built them and he just claims them as his own. And before anyone asks, yes, it _is_ an important detail, because it tells us what that guy is capable of. Can he built those monuments to suppress Digivolution? Or did he alter them to do that? Or maybe he just stole them altogether. Would be good to know."

"Speaking of Digivolution" Tai said, "How the hell did he evolve Agumon? And later Greymon, too?"

"Excellent point" Izzy agreed, "This and the fact that he planted both eggs as a trap for us. Both of those are actually impossible via coding and hacking alone. Digivolution requires either a Digivice or training, for a Digimon to level up naturally. I actually experimented with this stuff a lot. In fact, I already did so, during our first journey in the Digital World. All the coding methods, I found to be successful, failed as soon as I repeated them without access to a Digivice. As for the eggs, I can't say for sure yet, but they and the caves and temples they are usually in, have their codes completely inaccessible, just like the dark towers. I don't think he would be able to do all this, just with coding alone."

"Then..." Yolei said hesitating, "How does he do it?"

"This brings me to our potential fourth rookie..."

"Wait" TK said, "What are you saying?"

"He can digivolve Digimon, even as far as the Ultimate-level, something he couldn't do without a Digivice. When I transferred one of the D3's features to TK and Kari's Digivices I had four numbers, I could assign them to. The number zero was the only one that wasn't taken by one of our rookies. Zero is typically the first number, that's given away in coding. Meaning there's a fourth D3 that was created either before the others were, or simultaneously. And the D3 with this number was also designed to interact with the exact two eggs, he planted to lure Team A into an ambush."

He sighed, while the others stared at him, slowly connecting the dots.

"You remember what I told you before the first mission? Remember the promise I made to number four?"

"Power..." TK said uneasy.

"And do you remember their response?"

The group fell silent, but Kari raised her head.

"'Nah'..." she whispered, "'I'm good'..."

Izzy nodded.

"The Emperor is the fourth rookie"

* * *

"Okay, I admit" Gatomon said, "That could have gone a lot smoother"

"Was it really necessary turn burn the place down?" Tentomon asked.

Gatomon and Tentomon had reached Dev Lagoon. She wore a small bag around her shoulder, which contained Davis' D3. They were standing in front of a restaurant at the shore side of the Lake. The restaurant had been owned by a group of Numemon.

Now it was burning like a torch.

"That" Gatomon said, while pointing at the inferno, "was an accident! I didn't mean to do that."

"The way you knocked over that candle holder, looked _way_ to smooth, to have been accidental..."

"Eh, what can I say" Gatomon shrugged, "I could trip and fall and it would still look cool. I'm a cat, what do you want from me?"

"Guys!"

Palmon appeared from behind the building and hurried toward them.

"Oh god, you're okay!" she continued, "I was just done grabbing the food, and I saw that the restaurant was burning!"

Gatomon had send her to the back to steal food from the kitchen while she and Tentomon "distracted" the staff. But in reality, Gatomon killed the majority of the Numemon inside and, after a barely successful interrogation of the final two, resorted to end the mission in style - with arson.

"Yeah, there were some people starting up a fight in there and..." Gatomon explained, "you know... things got kinda out of hand. On the bright side we didn't need to distract them anymore. Go get the stuff and let's get out of here, alright?"

"On it!"

She ran back to get the food she stole from the Numemons' kitchen.

"Why not tell her the truth?" Tentomon asked.

"Look, you know about the plan, because I know you can keep your mouth shut. As for Agumon, I know he respects the shit out of me, so keeping him quiet, wasn't a challenge either. But the others... ah, you know, I don't know you guys that long, right? I want to keep this on the down low, okay? I mean, is Palmon _anything_ like Mimi?"

"I guess, they are kind of similar..."

"There you go, I wont tell her shit."

"But-"

"Look, I feel like, the second she sees any of the others she'll blab." Gatomon concluded, "Don't tell her anything!"

"Fine... you're the boss, I guess..."

"Damn right"

Palmon returned carrying a box with a few containers with dishes to go.

"Remind me again why we are back to stealing stuff..." she said shaking her head.

"_None of us have any money._" Gatomon repeated one of her prior statements annoyed.

"I know, but couldn't we have waited until we found Gabumon?" Palmon argued, "Maybe he has some?"

Gatomon looked over her shoulder, at the burning restaurant and back at Palmon again.

"It's a _little_ late for that now, isn't it?"

Palmon was about to answer her, but she was interrupted by a heart wrenching scream:

"_NOOOOO!_"

They turned to look at the source: Not three hundred feet away, at the tree line of the surrounding forest, on his knees, was a Digimon, which looked similar to a wolf with blue, tiger-striped fur, at first glance. But upon further inspection it became clear that the rookie-level looked more akin to a yellow reptile, which wore the wolfs hide as a coat, with the heads fur covering their own face.

It was Gabumon. Absolutely heartbroken he looked at the flaming building. But to their surprise, he wasn't alone.

"Huh? Guys, is that you?"

Next to Gabumon, was Biyomon, Sora's Partner. She was a pink bird with a red beak and red claws on the ends of her wings. The feathers on her head and tail had blue tips and there was one curled up feather with blue stripes, standing out from the top of her head. Also, she wore a big silver colored metal ring around her left ankle.

"Oh, hey look at that!" Gatomon said satisfied, "Gabumon _and_ Biyomon! Mission accomplished, everyone!" she added, swiftly pulling the D3 out of the bag.

"What are you doing here?" Biyomon asked flying over to them, hugging them one by one.

Gatomon glanced at the the flaming inferno.

"Well, I can tell you, what we _weren't_ doing..."

"What's that?"

"Burning down this restaurant."

"_Who would do such a thing?_" Gabumon cried in agony, "Why... _Why?_"

"What's your problem?" Gatomon asked, when they reached Gabumon (he was still on his knees, so they had to walk over to him), "Isn't that the restaurant where Matt and Joe were held captive for like two weeks?"

"That was the previous owner..." Gabumon mumbled, "But these Numemon... did they make it out of there? Are they okay?"

"Uh... well..." Gatomon hemmed and hawed.

"Oh god, no!" Gabumon said, "They – they were good people, you know?"

"They were in the Mafia!"

"Well, you gotta make a living..." Gabumon muttered, "They loved me, for running Digitamamon out of business..."

"I'm not sure, if that qualifies as _running somebody out of business_" Tentomon said dry.

"They gave me free food, all the time!" Gabumon continued, "It was so delicious... They called me 'Their savior, before they needed a savior'..."

"I wonder how many people these pricks worship!" Gatomon hissed through gritted teeth, "Hang on, let me contact Izzy. He has this network going on, we'll add you to it shortly"

She pushed a specific button on Kari's Digivice twice. A few seconds passed before they heard a soft beep.

"Gatomon?" Izzy said.

"Hey, man. I got _two_ new additions for you." Gatomon said putting her paws on both Gabumon's and Biyomon's shoulders.

"Oh? Huh, I see... Good work, you three." Izzy said pleased, before addressing the newcomers directly:

"Gabumon, Biyomon. How are you two doing?"

"Hey, Izzy!" Biyomon said.

"I've been better..." Gabumon sobbed.

"Huh? Why?"

The restaurant exploded into data.

"_NOOOOO-O-O-O!_"

"What was_ that?_"

"Ah, don't worry" Gatomon said, "It's just a building that dissolved."

"Why would _that_ happen?"

"I don't know" Gatomon lied, "We arrived here and it was already on fire..."

"But it wasn't" Palmon stepped in, "You went in, and you said some people started a fight and lit it on fire..."

"Ugh!" Gatomon groaned, "_Obviously_ I meant, they were fighting in there when we arrived, someone lit the place up and I don't know why! _Also, see what I mean, about her?_" she added whispering to Tentomon, who shrugged and nodded in response.

"_Uh huh..._" Izzy said, "_Right, _got it... Now, see that blinking dot on Kari's D3?"

Gatomon looked at it, surprised to see exactly that.

"What? Another egg?"

"No, I added a waypoint to the D3"

"You can do that?" Biyomon asked surprised, "Also what's a D3? Is that a new Digivice?"

"Biyomon" Izzy cut her off, "Slow down! It's a bit of a walk to get to your location. I'll bring you up to date on the way. Now, that waypoint shows your new hideout. The way there is rather straight forward, but the hideout itself is in a forest, so I'll stick around until you arrive."

"You think it's a good hideout?" Tentomon asked.

"It's okay" Izzy said, "A burrow under a big tree. Found it by checking the surveillance cameras in the area. Nothing special, but there's one important advantage: Unless my calculations are off, there's a small area near its entrance, that is out of reach of the closest dark towers."

"Meaning, we can digivolve there!" Gatomon exclaimed, "Nice job! Also, this new method of contacting you is way better, than the whole yelling idea."

"Why thank you" Izzy said, "It's a win-win you know? You better get going, now. A severe case of arson might draw some unwanted attention."

"Yeah... good thinking" Gatomon said.

They went to go on their way, but Gabumon was still on the floor.

"Gabumon?" Palmon said softly, offering him on of the containers with food, "We – uh... got some of the dishes out of there before the building burned down"

"You mean..." Gabumon sniffled, "You stole them?"

"_Well..._"

"Come on, it's not like they need 'em anymore!" Gatomon countered.

"I mean..." Gabumon said sad, "At least that means I can eat some more of their delicious food... _one last time!_" he added amid tears.

Gatomon sighed and patted him on the shoulder.

"Come on..." she said soothingly, "Let's get going, alright? Get up, buddy..."

"O-okay"

"By the way Biyomon, why exactly are you with Gabumon?" Izzy asked.

"Oh, since this Emperor guy started taking over, I figured we needed to get the band back together" she explained, "And Gabumon was the easiest to find."

"How so?"

"Because everyone knows, he is a regular in that restaurant here"

Gabumon let loose a short whimper.

"Or well... he was..."

"He was a regular in the restaurant where he and Matt were held prisoner for half a month?"

"Yeah, but the Numemon who own the place now –" Biyomon said, but stopped when she realized her mistake, "I mean... owned the place up _until _now, are – uh, _were_ way nicer than Digitamamon was."

"Can you please stop doing this?" Gabumon winced.

"Sorry..."

"Numemon, huh?" Izzy said contemplating, "Interesting..."

Gatomon scratched her neck uncomfortably.

"Izzy?" she said, "Can we have a talk? Privately?"

"Sure" he replied, sounding like he knew exactly what she meant, "Once you get to the hideout"

"Okay"

"In the meantime" Izzy said, "Gabumon, Biyomon, I have a lot to fill you in about, so listen up..."

* * *

The forest was dense, dominated by enormous oak-like trees. Everything was covered in oddly blueish green moss. Under an especially big tree was a generous burrow, a hollow space the size of a small house, with some roots from the tree above dangling from the ceiling. A little bit behind it's entrance, was a single large root growing straight down into the floor parting the room like a big column. The spot enabling them to evolve was next to it, between the root and the wall to the left of the entrance.

Gatomon wasn't inside. Instead she was at the back of the tree, having her talk with Izzy.

"I see" Izzy said after she finished explaining her mission to him, "Sounds like you _really_ had no choice, but to burn that restaurant to the ground..."

"I told you" Gatomon insisted irritated, "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Oh, please! Burning the crime scene down, in order to destroy all evidence, sounds so ridiculously in character for you, I wouldn't even be surprised, if you locked the doors first, so no potential witnesses could escape!"

"Okay... fair enough..."

"Also, I'm not to sure, if I'm on board with a mission, offering only the whistle of an eight-year-old as a reward..."

"Izzy, there's no price for emotional attachment!"

"Apparently, in a game of poker there is..."

"Look, I don't care, if you don't wanna help me with that" Gatomon said, "I can wing this on my own. All I ask, is that you keep this to yourself, alright?"

"Okay, you know what? How about this: I'll try to track down the whistle, as well. No promises, though. We've got enough on our plates at the moment."

"It's fine. But don't tell anyone, okay? Especially not Kari"

"Sure, but why is that so important?"

Gatomon sighed.

"Because I feel like, I'll have to do a lot of shady shit to get the whistle back..." she explained, "If Kari knew, she'd only try to stop me..."

"Okay then... Did you at least get some information from those final two Numemon?" he asked.

"Eh, not much..." she muttered annoyed, "All they told me was, that their network is screwed up right now, because their guys keep disappearing..."

"The Emperor, huh?"

"Probably... that little shit... But let me tell you: I'm not done with them yet!"

"I would have been shocked, if you were..."

Gatomon ignored that snide remark.

"Trust me, my friend..." Gatomon growled low, "They'll have their comeuppance..."

"If you say so"

* * *

Kari lazily glanced at the digital clock on the small table next to the couch.

Nearly 2 a. m.

She sighed softly and returned her gaze to the ceiling; She could have looked out the window instead, but the generous view showed the river outside. The water blackened by the night.

It made her uncomfortable.

Sleep would have been nice... but that wasn't really an option right now...

A trail of light flooded the ceiling, so suddenly, it made her jump a little, since she realized that there was someone in the room with her. However, she hadn't heard a single noise among the silence of the living room. Granted, she wasn't exactly listening for anything and she was in deep thought, so she could have easily missed something.

Still...

She put her head further back to see the source of the light. Unsurprisingly to her (since she knew the layout of their living room well), it came from the fridge. Quietly scavenging through the fridge, was her brother.

"Hey, Tai" she said softly.

"_Jesus!_"

Tai spun around and nearly jumped backwards into the fridge.

"God dammit, sis!" he hissed.

"Sorry..." she sighed, relaxing in her seat and staring at the ceiling again.

Tai quietly closed the fridge, walked over the couch and sat down next to her.

"Sis, it's 2 a. m." he said quietly, so their parents wouldn't wake up, "What are you still doing up?"

"I could ask you the same question..." Kari said slowly, lifting up her head. She knew, he had some tests coming up, so she continued:

"Studying?"

Tai shot her a look.

Kari sighed.

"GTA?"

"GTA"

"Right..."

"Now" he said turning around to face her directly, "What about you?"

"Couldn't sleep..."

"Okay... any idea why? - And don't say it's, because you think the whole Agumon thing is your fault!" he added insistently.

"No..." Kari muttered, "It's just – I feel guilty, because I couldn't save him..."

"God dammit!" Tai cussed, "Sis, I'm not kidding, you better drop this It's-all-my-fault-shit or else -!"

"Or else what?" Kari interrupted him, "I don't know what your plan is, and I know Mom's a heavy sleeper – and Dad right now, too" (Their Father had been drinking a lot of Sake tonight) "– but I feel like even they would wake up from that."

"Yeah... I guess, I was planning on yelling at you a bunch..." Tai admitted, "Seriously though, stop it! SkullGreymon would have fucking vaporized you!"

"I told you, I wanted to get to him, once he devolved again!"

"Sure, but let's be real, Airdramon-asshole probably had the same idea. And none of you guys were fit enough to stop him anymore."

"Wouldn't it be easier, just to call him emperor?"

"I refuse to call him that!" Tai said stubborn, "Even if the only other choice was some ridiculous nickname, that would take me an hour to say, I'd go with that over _emperor_, any day!"

"Sure..." Kari sighed, "Call him whatever you want..."

"Point is" Tai continued, "There's nothing you could have done there. Don't beat yourself up over this."

"I know, it's just..."

She hesitated.

"I... never mind..."

"_No_" Tai pressed, "Screw that! You're telling me what's bothering you, _right now._ I'm tired of this! I mean, how am I supposed to help you, if I don't even know, what the problem is?"

"_That's _the problem..." Kari said and Tai leaned back in surprise, "You always helped_ me. _The most effort you put into anything, is to keep me safe, or help me out, when I'm in trouble!"

"That's because I'm your big brother" Tai responded sternly, "It's my job!"

"Yes but..."

She stopped.

"But what?"

"You were always there for me. I just... wanted to return the favor _for once_. Just this _one time_, I wanted to be there for _you_"

"Kari" Tai said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "You don't have to do this -"

"But I want to!" she said tearing up, "And it made me sick how this... _maniac_ treated him" (Tai rolled his eyes at his sister's insistence not to swear) "and I didn't want you to worry anymore and I -"

Once more, she stopped herself lowering her head.

"I wanted to save him, _so bad!_" she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Tai pulled her into a warm embrace.

"It's gonna be okay" he said softly, "Izzy surely has a plan already, we'll get him back in no time. Don't worry."

"Don't _you_ worry?"

Thanks to the embrace Kari was unable to see the pained expression, flickering across Tai's face. He ended the hug and held her at arms length, to reassure her with a very convincing false smile.

"Nah, he's tough. Knowing Izzy, we'll have him back tomorrow. It's fine."

Kari nodded and wiped her eyes.

"You're right" she said, "We'll get him out of there"

And even though her voice still sounded shaky, she also sounded convinced, that he was right.

"That's the spirit!" he said patting her on the shoulder, "Now get some sleep, alright? You look like you could use some"

She giggled softly.

"You, too" she said, "Your sleeping pattern is so messed up, power-napping probably wont help you in the long run"

"Fine, whatever" Tai said walking over to his room, while she moved towards hers, "I'll give it a shot"

"Night" she said quietly.

"Sleep well, sis"

And so the Yagami-siblings entered their respective rooms, dealing with their problems, the usual way: Tai by continuing to run over and murder civilians in GTA III, who reminded him of the Emperor and Kari by suppressing any thought of the nightmare she had before she had moved to the living room.


	7. Mistakes were made

-x-

**Chapter Seven**

**Mistakes were made**

**WARNING! The following chapter contains major spoilers for:**

**"The Sixth Sense", "The Empire Strikes Back", "The Usual Suspects" and...**

**"Titanic"... ** _ **I guess...** _

Having had enough practice, from past visits in the human world, Patamon didn't have any trouble, acting like a stuffed animal, on the spot. So when two girls crossed paths with him and TK in the school's corridors, as they made their way to the computer lab, the day after the SkullGreymon-incident, he immediately stopped talking and froze, to initiate the act.

The girls walked past them and giggled.

"_How cute_" one of the girls teased, looking back, before they turned the corner and TK sighed and moped.

He waited until their laughter faded in the distance, then he spoke to his partner again:

"Okay look, man: No offense but – this is kind of humiliating..."

"Sorry..." Patamon mumbled saddened.

"It's not your fault... It's just – impractical... Anyway where were we?"

"You said, you're tired of Izzy calling you an idiot"

"Right, so let's brainstorm"

"Brainstorm?"

"Yeah, I wanna show up to the meeting with some sort of plan..." he said contemplating, "I mean, Izzy will probably have a better one and shoot mine down anyways, but at least I can say I'm contributing."

"Gotcha" Patamon said, "So... how do we make a plan?"

"Seriously, man?"

"I'm sorry! Izzy always does that!"

"Ugh... alright, let's start with the basics" TK said impatiently "Anything we can use to our advantage? You know basic stuff... like, that Agumon can't aim for shit."

"Oh! That's a good one!"

"Yeah, but we already know that" TK said dismissively, "We need something new..."

Patamon stared ahead for a few seconds, thinking intensely.

"Wait! Does the Emperor know about the rookies?" he asked, "We can surprise him! Let's come at him with everything we got!"

"Nah" TK argued, "Gatomon ratted them out, remember? She mentioned that they weren't there, so we could kill the Emperor and tell 'em whatever"

"Don't you mean..." a voice behind them said, with a soft chuckle, "She... _catted_ them out? He he..."

Patamon looked over TK's shoulder and his eyes grew easily twice their regular size.

The voice belonged to a Digimon looking like the Grim Reaper; he wore a grey cloak with a red hood. His face (if there was one) was hidden in the shadow of the hood, only his glowing blue eyes were visible. His hands were invisible and he carried a large, golden scythe and a spiked mace on a chain.

It was -

"Phantomon!" Patamon exclaimed, jumping away from TK's arms, "TK, quick! Digivolve me!"

TK sighed.

"Patamon, calm down."

"No, he's behind you! Watch out!" he continued, quickly flying between him and Phantomon,

"_Calm down! _He's a ghost!"

"I know he's a Ghost-Digimon! That's why I can take him out as Angemon!"

"No, I mean – I know, you can – you already did! He's a ghost-ghost!"

"Huh?"

Patamon tilted his head.

"What do you mean, ghost-ghost?"

"I mean, he's dead!" TK explained, "You killed him in this world, when we fought Myotismon. He's been haunting me ever since!"

"_Ooooh!_" Patamon said, "Now that you mention it, he _does_ look kinda see-through... But – I killed him. So, why is he haunting you and not me?"

"I can't go to the Digital World" Phantomon said, "That's why I keep following him. He's your partner, so that's the next best thing."

"He keeps popping up every once in a while, making stupid puns..." TK said rolling his eyes, "Don't worry about him... He's just here to make fun of us. I guess, because he can't do anything else to us."

"He he, I guess you saw... right through me, eh?" Phantomon giggled.

"God dammit!" TK growled.

"Is he around often?" Patamon asked, looking up at TK concerned. He had returned to his position in TK's arms since they continued on their way to the lab.

"Occasionally" TK shrugged, "Could be worse, I guess... The most annoying part is, that I am the only one who can see or hear him."

"Really?" Patamon asked taken aback, "But wait, I can see him, too!"

"I guess, that's because you killed him" TK suggested.

"Nah" Phantomon said, "If I wanted to, everyone could see me"

"Then why don't you do _that?_" TK asked threateningly through gritted teeth.

"Because it's way funnier, if people constantly think you're crazy" Phantomon laughed.

"Yeah..." TK muttered defeated, "Go figure..."

They reached the lab.

"Phantomon" TK said, "Can you do me a favor and shut up in there?"

"You killed me" Phantomon argued, "Why would I do you a favor?"

"Fair enough... keep cracking lame jokes then... just don't expect either of us to pay attention to you..."

He opened the door. Only Yolei and Poromon were already there.

"Sup, Wannabe?" he sighed.

"Hey" she answered, but hesitated before continuing, "It's TK, isn't it?"

"Are you serious?"

"Sorry!" she said blushing, "I'm really bad with names... Plus, we've only known each other for two days!"

"Funny" he said slumping into a chair, "Feels like half a year to me..."

"In a good way?"

TK hesitated.

"So, Poromon" he deflected, "How are you liking our world so far?"

"It's really nice" Poromon said, "It's so relaxing compared to the Digital World. Yolei showed me a movie last night. It was really good! Way better than the bollocks movies we have in the Digital World..."

"What did you watch?"

"'E.T.'" Yolei replied, "I felt like he could really relate to that one. You know, being new to a foreign world and stuff... making friends..."

"Being chased by narrow minded government agents" TK said cynically, "Good choice, though" he added positively surprised.

"Thanks" Yolei said blushing again, "I wanted to go with 'Titanic' at first, but... that one's like 4 hours so... we'd need more time for that"

"Huh..." TK said, "Never saw that one"

"Really?" Yolei exclaimed, "You haven't?"

"Nah, too much hype" TK shrugged, "Is it any good?"

"Oh, it's amazing!" she said dreamy, then she chuckled, "Spoiler: The ship sinks at the end!"

TK stared at her.

"Yo, what the hell?" he said baffled, "I just told you, I haven't seen that one, yet! Why would you ruin it for me?"

"But..." Yolei said startled, "Everyone knows that..."

"Oh, my bad!" TK said sarcastically, "I guess it's just like with 'The Sixth Sense' then, huh?"

"Yes! Wait... why?"

"Because everyone already knows, that it turns out, Bruce Willis was a ghost from the very beginning!"

"What?! No! Stop it! It's not like, I told you who dies at the end!"

"Oh, great so at least one of them dies, huh? Good to fucking know! Hey, let me help you out a little, too: Did you know Darth Vader is Luke's father?"

"_The ship sinks! _Obviously people are gonna die!" Yolei shouted jumping out of her chair, "_What's wrong with you?!_ I haven't seen Star Wars, yet! Just stop it, okay?"

"Actually, that was just a lucky shot, I expected you to know that one." TK admitted, "Also, what's wrong with _me? _What's wrong with _you? You haven't seen Star Wars! Also, _no it's not obvious, that people die! Ever heard of Lifeboats?"

"They didn't have enough!"

"Okay, you're doing this on purpose now, aren't you?" he said, now standing up, too, "You're almost as annoying as Kevin Spacey in 'The Usual Suspects', pretending to be a dumb cripple, when he's actually Keyser freaking Söze!"

"What?!" Yolei shouted, now pressing her hands on her ears, "I can't hear you over the sound of the ship crashing into an iceberg!"

"Stop being a fucking coward and fight me fair and square!"

Yolei removed her hands from her ears and said:

"I'm not fighting you, at all! Everything I told you about the movie, so far, is common knowledge!"

"Spoil me again!" TK demanded ignoring her claims, "Spoil. Me. Again. I dare you! I _double-dare_ you, motherfucker!"

"_What did you just call me?!_" she asked outraged.

"Oh, I'm – sorry... I was in character... that was – uncalled for..." TK apologized, "Anyways, you better think twice before spoiling me again! 'Cause you don't know who you're messing with! I'm Takeru Takaishi! I watched movies with twist endings, when you were still in diapers!"

"Oh, oh..." Patamon said to Poromon, watching the back and forth with growing panic, "This is bad! What do we do?"

"I don't know!" Poromon said equally upset.

"Well, if they keep spoiling each other like that" Phantomon chimed in, "They might end up... rotting away!"

"Okay, that wasn't even a good attempt" Patamon said dry.

"Who are you talking to?" Poromon asked confused.

"Nobody!" Patamon said quickly, "Forget about it, we need to stop them!"

"But how?"

* * *

"Izzy!"

Izzy froze, when he heard a female voice calling his name. He was on his way to the computer lab for the next mission. Slowly he turned around, to see who called for him.

It was Kari. The girl hurried to catch up to him.

"Oh good, it's just you" he said relieved.

"What do you mean 'it's _just_ you'?" Kari wondered, "Who did you expect?"

"Someone, who might ruin my day" Izzy answered plainly, "You're not _that_ annoying, though"

"Oh..." Kari mumbled, looking at her feet, "Thanks for that..."

"Kari, let's be realistic: You _can_ be quite annoying" Izzy said, "That being said, that's leagues above our new recruits..."

"So, anyway" Kari said, "You got a plan for Agumon?"

"I got one... All we need, is a full crew, and we should be good to go. So, I'd say our chances for success are fifty-fifty."

"That's probably fair..."

"Actually make that fourty-sixty"

"Positively or negatively?"

"Is that a serious question?"

"Sorry... so, what's the plan?"

"I'm gonna go ahead and adapt your brother's attitude on this one"

"Huh?"

"The way I see it, I'll have to explain everything trice anyway... So, just wait a little longer."

They slowed down, as they closed in on the lab; They heard to people yelling at each other – or rather, one person yelling something unintelligible and the other one shrieking 'no' repeatedly, in a rapid fashion.

"I would like to say something, along the lines of 'Don't let that come from our lab'..." Izzy said dry, "But I suppose it's futile..."

They exchanged a quick glance as they stepped in front of the door; The noise definitely came from inside the computer lab.

Kari sighed and slid the door open.

The scene unfolding in front of them was bizarre, to say the least; Yolei was sitting on a chair in front of a desk, near the door, her back turned to the monitor. TK was standing over her, grabbing her by the wrists, yelling, what sounded like movie-spoilers, at her, while she was struggling to free herself. Meanwhile, Poromon was jumping up and down next to his leg, weakly hacking into it in order to make him stop, while Patamon was flying next to the two staring at them helplessly.

"_ \- and you know the best part?!_" he shouted.

"_PLEASE STOP!_"

"_Turns out it was her boyfriend AND the freaky boyfriend of that other chick!_"

"_Let go!_"

"_You'll only plug your ears again! Get used to it!_"

"_Stop, stop, STOP!_"

"Well" Izzy said calm, turning to Kari, "I guess that settles that."

Puzzled, Kari looked at him ("_And guess what!_" "_No, no, NO!_" "_It actually WAS a game, all along!_").

"Same time tomorrow?" he continued, turning on his heels and walking away.

"Uh, _Izzy?_" Kari gasped running after him, to stop him.

At the same time, Patamon had noticed the two. Seeing a chance to stop the fighting with Izzy's help, he quickly followed them, outside.

"Save your breath, Kari..." Izzy said, when he reached the exit of the building.

"But we need to save Agumon!" Kari demanded, following him outside.

"We will" Izzy sighed, "However, I do value my sanity a _little_ more."

"But -"

"I am _not_ gonna put up with that shit!" Izzy insisted.

"Izzy! Izzy!" Patamon called out, barely managing to fly through the closing front door of the school.

Izzy rolled his eyes and turned around.

"_What?_"

"You gotta help us!"

"Why?"

"If we don't stop them, they might hurt each other!"

"I said 'why' not 'why not'... Also TK seemed to have it under control"

"Come on, Izzy!" Kari begged, "We gotta work together!"

"Why am _I_ supposed to clean up this mess?"

"Because you're the smartest one here!" Patamon said.

"Nice one, try again..."

"He's right, though!" Kari said, "You can talk them out of this!"

"I tell you what, Kari: _You_ settle this. You are peace-incarnate, anyway."

"Uuuum..."

"Run along" Izzy said, waving his hands toward the school, signaling her to go, "I'll wait here."

"Okay, fine!" Kari said hastily, and ran back inside, Patamon following her closely.

"Kari?" Patamon asked, as they hurried back towards the lab.

"Yes, Patamon?"

"Why is TK so angry?"

"You tell me" Kari replied, "All I saw, was him yelling spoilers at Yolei for some reason... Wait, did she ruin a movie for him? That sort of thing really triggers him"

"Yeah, but I meant in general" Patamon explained, "Yesterday the TV wasn't turning on, so he started yelling at it and hitting it. It was really weird..."

"Oh, that! Yeah, we think, after he discovered the meaning of his crest, he got really dedicated to living it..."

She shrugged.

"Can't say for sure, though..."

They reached the door.

"Wait" Patamon said tense, "Do you hear something?"

"No..." Kari said nervously.

"Weird, right?"

"Yeah" the girl answered.

She swallowed and slowly opened the door.

Nobody was inside. The room looked a little chaotic, presumably from the fight before, but that was about it.

"Huh..." Kari said taken aback, "Where are they?"

"I don't know" Patamon said and started to fly around the room.

"They're not here" he concluded.

"Okay..." Kari muttered, "Well, I'll go look for them, you go get Izzy. You know – since the coast is clear and all..."

"Got it!" Patamon said, flying out again, while Kari made her way to the hallways to find the others.

* * *

Ten minutes later the crew had assembled in the lab, including Tai and Matt (Who had joined in to see how Gabumon was doing) – but excluding TK, Kari, Cody and Yolei.

"Where are they?" Veemon asked annoyed.

"Good question" Izzy agreed arms crossed.

"So, they were fighting, by spoiling movies for each other?" Veemon continued in disbelief.

"Definitely sounds like the kind of fight TK would get into..." Tai muttered.

"Well, he wouldn't spoil a movie to anyone unprovoked" Matt argued.

"And she started it." Patamon added.

"So?" Izzy asked annoyed, "Who gives a crap about who started it? We got a huge delay for the mission, on our hands, because Wannabe apparently is careless concerning spoilers, while TK sees them as a declaration of war!"

The door slid open.

"Finally!" Izzy said annoyed.

He turned around, but it was only Cody and Upamon.

"Oh, that's right…" Izzy recalled, "You two are late, too… What took you so long?"

"I'm sorry" Cody apologized, "I was just -"

"He was busy kicking ass!" Upamon cut in excited.

"No!" Cody muttered, blushing, "Cut it out, Upamon…"

"But it's true!"

"It isn't"

"You got into a fight?" Tai asked raising an eyebrow, "I thought, you were all 'peace and love'."

"It wasn't a real fight, it was Kendo practice." Cody sighed.

"Whatever, that old fart didn't stand a chance!"

"That old fart is my grandfather" Cody explained patiently, "Also, I lost."

"_What?_" Upamon exclaimed, "No way! That game doesn't make any sense! You totally killed it!"

"Please, stop…" Cody murmured embarrassed.

"Don't listen to him!" Veemon giggled, clearly enjoying Cody's humiliation, "Keep going!"

The door opened again.

"Guys" Kari said stepping in, "I found Yolei and Poromon."

The other two followed her in.

"Tentomon?" Kari added, surprised to see Izzy's partner.

"Hey" Tentomon said relaxed, "How is it going?"

"Before you ask" Izzy said, "He brought me Matt's Digivice. We used it for a little test and I'm happy to say, that it worked and we managed to digivolve Gabumon like this."

"Wait" Kari said in awe, "You mean -"

"You digivolved him remotely?" Veemon cut in baffled, "From this World?"

"Okay, calm down" Izzy said, "It's not as great as it sounds. For one, Garurumon - that's Gabumon's Champion-level, by the way – he told us, he didn't feel as powerful, as he was when Matt was with him. So for now, we wont use him for anything, other then to defend the rest of our Digimon, in case of an emergency. Also, I will need the partner of the Digimon, I want to digivolve that way, as well as their Digivice. And well, we needed you rookies as reinforcements, so I assume, I don't have to explain to you why that's the biggest problem with that idea. And while we're on the topic of our fucked up team" he added, looking at Yolei, "Where is TK?"

"I don't know..." Yolei said, avoiding eye-contact, and kicking around on floor with one foot, uncomfortably.

"_What happened?_" Izzy asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" Yolei defended herself, "We were talking about movies and suddenly he accused me of spoiling 'Titanic' to him and then _he_ started spoiling -"

"How do you even spoil that movie?" Tai interrupted, "Isn't the sinking ship on the freaking poster?"

"Thank you!" Yolei said relieved, "That's what I was saying, too!"

"Yeah also, we know that part" Izzy cut her off, "We saw him yelling descriptions of twist endings for other flicks at you."

"You saw that?"

"Yes..." Izzy sighed, "Caused a beautiful mixture of anger, annoyance and suicidal thoughts. Or homicidal, depending on who you ask... What happened afterwards? Cut to the chase."

"But why didn't you help me, Izzy-Senpai?"

"Did you hear my description? Did it even remotely sound like anything, I would want to be involved in, even if I gave a flying fuck, who was in the right and who wasn't? What happened after that? Obviously, you two left the room, shortly after Kari and I abandoned you."

"Yeah..." Yolei said looking away again, "I freed myself and ran away from him. Then he ran after me and lost him, somewhere in the corridors."

"Wait" Kari intervened, "You told me, you didn't know what he did after you left the room."

"Well, I meant I don't know where he ended up, after I lost him!"

"But..." Kari said confused, "That's not what you said at all..."

"Look, I just misspoke, okay?"

"Wait, a minute!" Patamon said suddenly, then he spun around so he was looking towards the wall, "You saw what happened, right?"

"Uh... _Patamon?_" Tai asked concerned, "Who are you talking to?"

"Hold on!" Patamon hushed him, before turning around again, "Come on! Tell me! Why'd you stop following TK?"

"Wow, TK is missing and Patamon is going insane" Izzy recapped dry, "Fantastic, we're off to an excellent start!"

"No, no, no! _Listen to me!_" Patamon said hectically, "I know this sounds crazy, but Phantomon has been haunting TK! He saw what happened, for sure!"

"Phantomon?" Izzy asked raising an eyebrow, "How would a Phantomon get to this world? And since when can he turn invisible? _And_ how would you be able to see him then?"

"No, you don't understand! I killed him when we fought Myotismon and now he's following TK around!"

"Okay, A) That sounds highly unlikely" Izzy argued, "And B) Even if that was the case, why would he be here, if he was supposed to follow him?"

"That's what I was asking, too!" Patamon said, before turning around to face the wall again, "Come on, now! Just show yourself and tell them!"

"Coming to think of it" Kari said suddenly, "Sometimes, when we were hanging out, it did seem like TK was talking to somebody... but when I asked him who he was talking to he always changed the subject."

"So, he _isn't_ imagining things?" Tai, Izzy and Yolei asked bewildered.

"Jinxed" Izzy added calmly, "To both of you, by the way"

Tai sighed and opened up his bag. After a quick search he found a coke inside and threw it over to Izzy.

"Huh, there you go" Izzy said opening it up and taking a sip.

"Okay, Phantomon, just tell _me_ then, alright?" Patamon asked, "Just this once!"

Yolei, who had been scribbling something on a piece of paper, suddenly raised her arm, looking to the floor and blushing madly. In addition she started to squeal in order to get Izzy's attention. She looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Yes, Wannabe?" Izzy said.

Yolei held up the piece of paper. It read: "Okay, okay! I know where TK is"

"What a shocking twist..." Izzy sighed, "Alright Yolei, tell us"

* * *

"Finally…" the Emperor mumbled, "That's it… subside… yes, there you go…"

"Um… watcha doing?" the worm said with a nervous chuckle upon entering the Emperor's control room. The large dark chamber was rather barren, almost empty, save for a large desk in front an enormous wall of surveillance screens allowing the emperor to watch multiple parts of the Digital World at once.

"Everything alright K? You're kinda scaring me…"

"Get lost, magg-" the Emperor started, but froze a second later, "What did just call me?"

"K…" the worm muttered, clearly afraid, before hastily adding, "Uh, as in 'Kaiser', you know… it's German for 'emperor'…"

"Do you even realize what you could also read into that?!"

"_ImsorryIwontbringitupagaindonthitme!_"

"Ugh… you're pathetic…"

The worm glanced at one of monitors in the center of the wall, once the Emperor had turned around in his chair again.

"Holy cow!" he said surprised, "You black-ringed that Ultimate-level in the industrial area?"

"Oh yes, that piece of shit won't be a nuisance to me anymore" the Emperor replied dark.

"So, you found a way to get Ultimates more easily?"

"No…" the raven haired boy said annoyed, "It's still way more effort, than to catch a champion level… But at least I'll be able to control them like this"

"Yeah, SkullGreymon doesn't really obey to anyone…"

"It shouldn't have been SkullGreymon in the first place, maggot!" the Emperor barked, "The rings corrupt Digivolution. As long as I don't have a workaround for that, I'll have to capture them like that. But now I have a new lab rat, so that shouldn't take too long."

"_Oh,_ So _that's_ what you're using him for! I was getting worried you would actually -"

"Oh, I'm using all of him! And that includes everything I have of him so far, so don't you even start, you slimy -"

"But you said it yourself, the ring corrupted him, when he digivolved" the worm cut in, "Wouldn't a corrupted Digimon be too dangerous to -"

"_I said:_ don't even start!" the Emperor demanded, "This is none of your business, so shut the fuck up! Or do you want me to use the whip on you again?"

"Nonono it's cool, it's cool… I'll just shut up…" the worm said backing off slightly.

"Finally…" the Emperor sighed, focusing on the monitors again.

"Now take a look at that…" he added suddenly upon gazing at the monitor in the bottom left corner, "Look who we got here…"

"Who is it?" the worm asked curiously, now also looking at the screen. It displayed an empty roof in the industrial area west of Temp City. On it, was a lean eleven year old boy with blond hair, raising his fists toward a Digimon that looked like an enormous gear, almost as big as the boy himself, with a golden rim, a face with a mean smile and two smaller, silver colored gears for hands.

"What is this idiot doing?" the Emperor asked.

"Looks like he is fighting this Hagurumon" the worm suggested.

"Oh, you don't say!" the Emperor snarled sarcastically, "That was rhetorical!"

The boy swung at Hagurumon hitting him right next to his face – before clutching his fist, obviously groaning in pain, since his opponents body was made out of metal.

"My god, what a moron…" the Emperor mumbled.

He then typed on his keyboard, causing the freshly mind-controlled Ultimate-level on the other screen to move.

"Now, isn't that convenient timing, though…" he commented

"You're sending that guy after him?"

"Shut up"

"Isn't that a little overkill?"

"Will it be overkill, once the damn cavalry arrives?" the boy shouted, before standing up. He walked over to the worm and kicked him, sending him flying toward the door.

"Get out!" he yelled after him.

"Ow!" the worm squeaked, "Okay, I can see you're pretty worked up, I'll just let you be!" he grunted hastily before hurrying out of the chamber.

"Now" the Emperor muttered, "Let's see, what we can do with you…"

* * *

"_You_ _send him to the Digital World?_" Izzy asked baffled.

"_I didn't mean to!_" Yolei cried.

"By _accident?!_"

"_What's wrong with you?_" Matt cut in furious.

"I got one of my arms free - and I panicked! So I -"

"So, you did the most logical thing in the world, and pointed your D3 at the monitor and opened the gate because that would get you out of that mess" Izzy continued for her, nodding slowly, "I get it"

"You do?"

"_Of course not!_" Izzy barked, "How is _that_ the best strategy you came up with? Actually scratch that, I already know the reason... But why didn't you get sucked in, too?"

"When he realized, I opened the gate, he let me go, so I backed off and threw my D3 in the corner, so I wouldn't go through the gate, and I told him, to do the same, but it was too late..."

Izzy stared at her.

"_Amazing!_" he said, throwing his hands up, in absolute disbelief, "Just when I thought, we've reached the peak of incompetence!"

He buried his face in his hands, growling infuriated.

"By the way, you do realize that you risked loosing your D3, by doing that as well, right?" Izzy asked, removing his hands from his face again, "For all we know it could have been sucked in by itself ending up at some random location in the Digital World!"

"Sorry, Izzy-Senpai..." Yolei sniffled.

"Also, why did you cover up for her, Poromon?" he asked Yolei's partner, "I thought, you were the proper, honest, polite one!"

"Well, I would have" Poromon said ashamed, "But she kept begging me not to tell any of you. So, I couldn't bring myself, to do it."

"Wow..." Izzy mumbled, "And so loyal, too... She truly doesn't deserve you..."

"_I'm sorry, Izzy-Senpai!_" Yolei sobbed.

Izzy ignored her.

"So yeah, I guess, we were all in the mood for a rescue mission, anyway! So let's go, shall we?"

Kari and the rookies lined up in front of the PC and she opened the gate. As usual the tidal wave burst through the door, washing them into the Digital World.

"What the fuck…" Matt said having been caught off guard by the sudden flooding, "… was that?!"

"Dammit" Tai muttered, "Forgot about that fucking tsunami again…"

"Does that happen _every time?_"

"It does" Izzy said calm, "Well, we better get used to it…"

"Yeah, I feel bad for that poor janitor, though…" Tai commented.

* * *

The industrial area of Temp City was a maze of old factories and power plants. From a distance it was not hard to confuse its skyline with a forest: Countless small towers, antennas and chimneys reached into the cloudy sky above. But there were some flat roofs, too. Like the one TK had decided to fist fight a Hagurumon on. Mano y mano.

"Fuck..." TK moaned and fell to the floor. He had just taken a heavy hit and was now bleeding from his temple.

Hagurumon cackled.

"What's now, huh?" he mocked TK, "No more big talk?"

"Uh, if anything, I talked small..." TK slurred dazed, "Seriously, did I ever say I'd kick your ass? Did I miss something?"

"Okay, how about this" Hagurumon said, "Turns out you where right this _is _a ton of fun!"

"I feel like I didn't say that, either..."

"You did."

"Really? Well, fuck me then... looks like I already have brain damage... Why are you doing this, anyways? You don't even have a black ring!"

"Well, if you can avoid being mind-controlled by supporting the Emperor, than why not do it, you know?"

"Coward..." TK muttered.

"Now..." Hagurumon said, ignoring his quip, "Let's see, if you can still fight. Go on..." he added challenging, "Put a dent in me."

"I - uh... see what I can do..." TK said, slowly swaying left to right.

"Come on, you were so eager! What happened?"

"Uh, I think a concussion" TK grunted, "And a broken hand... Gotta be real, this isn't as epic, as I hoped it would be..."

"Coming to think of it" Hagurumon said looking around, "Why _did_ you think, fighting on the roof would be epic again? Honestly, I don't see it."

"I was banking on killing you, by throwing you off the roof" TK explained.

"Huh" Hagurumon said meshing his gear hands and spinning them, "Well, saying that, didn't help your chances, I can tell you that much."

"Yeah, I kinda blew it there, didn't I?"

"Tell you what" Hagurumon said closing in on TK, driving him closer to the edge, "We'll stick to that idea. Let's just - tweak it a bit, alright?"

"Can I throw you off, _without_ killing you?" TK asked squinting his eyes in confusion.

"I was thinking more along the lines of throwing _you_ off"

"Gotcha... wait! How high up are we?"

"Four stories"

"You know what would happen to humans, dying in the Digital World?"

"Can't say" Hagurumon shrugged, "Guess, you wont be reborn, though"

"Uh, can I fact check this, before I give you my answer?"

"Nope" Hagurumon said lunging out.

TK backed off, until his shoes hit the rim of the roof, almost causing him to stumble and lose his balance.

"Shit..." he mumbled, "Hey, one more thing!"

"What?" Hagurumon said annoyed freezing in place.

"If you see a human girl with purple hair and round glasses..."

TK paused.

"Then what?" Hagurumon sighed impatiently.

"Kill her, too"

"Sounds like a dying wish I can respect" Hagurumon shrugged getting ready to strike again.

_Clang!_

Hagurumon froze in the middle of his motion. It wasn't hard to see why; an enormous dagger had pierced right through him from behind, effectively splitting his face in half.

"_FUUUUUUUU-!_" the Digimon screamed in pain before exploding into data.

The blade hit the floor just as a large yellow frog-like Digimon leaped onto the roof and picked it up.

"Bull's-eye!" Frogmon called out excited.

"Holy. Shit." TK said baffled, "Who the hell are you?"

"Frogmon! I told you not to kill anyone!" Cody said looking over her shoulder, as he had been flying in on her back.

"Oh, that sounds more familiar..." TK mumbled sitting down on the floor.

"What?" Frogmon said confused, "I thought, that was for last mission!"

"It's for _every_ mission!"

"Oh, oops..." she said while Cody, Davis and Veemon climbed off her back, and Flybeemon landed next to her, dropping off Yolei, Kari and Gatomon, "Well, you gotta tell me!"

"I did! _All of us_ did!"

"Yeah!" Frogmon said, "For last mission!"

"Guys..." TK said, who was now lying on his back staring up to the sky, "This hospital is kinda weird... why is there no ceiling?"

"Oh, god... TK?" Kari said concerned running over to him closely followed by Patamon.

Kari covered her mouth with her hands once she saw his bruised, somewhat bloodied face.

"TK, you're hurt!" Patamon gasped, "What happened?"

"I challenged him to a fist fight..." TK mumbled, "one on one... he won..."

"What?" Kari asked baffled, "Why?"

"Uh, because it was either that… or ten on one... He was alone when he found me so I took my chance..."

"Oh, gotcha..."

"Okay, get him out of there" Izzy said, "Fast. TK have you seen any TV's or something?"

"There's offices downstairs... I guess there could be some... didn't see one, though"

"Good, get him downstairs and find a way out" Izzy instructed.

"Uh, here's the thing about that..." Gatomon said peeking over the edge of the roof.

"There they are!" another Hagurumon down from the street yelled pointing at them. As soon as he did, the rim of the roof exploded. The blast threw Gatomon backwards across the roof and straight into Kari's arms.

"Whoa! What was that?" Davis asked startled.

"Are you okay?" Kari asked concerned.

"Yeah…" the cat coughed, "Kind of… That's, where I was going with that, by the way. They've got some Tankmon and some Mekanorimon down there."

"What the hell are Tankmon?" Yolei asked visibly shocked.

"Take a wild guess" Gatomon replied facetiously, "But they are Champion-levels, if that's what you're asking."

"Then what are Mekanorimon?"

"They're champions too" Gatomon explained hectically, "They look like robots – look, can we work on an exit strategy first?"

"Yo, I need to digivolve, Brainiac" Veemon told Davis, "Think you can handle that?"

"Uuuh... sure – I mean..." Davis started, opening his D-Terminal, when Kari stepped in.

"I'll help you with the phrase, Davis" she sighed, "Just follow my lead"

"No, it's cool, I think I got the hang of it!" Davis said quickly, blushing madly.

"O- kay..." Kari said skeptically, but stepped back as he raised his D-Terminal.

Davis took a deep breath.

"Digi-armor eneeeeeeer..."

"-_gize_." Kai helped out.

"-gize! -gize... I knew it was -gize" Davis babbled, "Dammit I almost had it!" he added frustrated, under his breath.

"Ugh... At least it worked right away..." Veemon grumbled while turning into Flamedramon.

"Okay, guys let's move fast or else these assholes will blast the building apart." Gatomon suggested.

"How many are there?" Flamedramon asked, clearly not too eager to look over the edge himself.

"I saw three Tankmon and four Mekanorimon" she replied, "We should kill... _the black rings on those Tankmon first_" she added before clearing her throat (and rolling her eyes), "Because I think Mekanorimon don't have enough firepower to bring a building down... and Tankmon do."

"Agreed" Flamedramon said dry.

"TK?" Gatomon asked, nervously looking over to him as Kari was helping him stand up, "Think you can digivolve Patamon, buddy?"

"Digi-what?"

"Yeah... I didn't think so..."

"Okay, you four go then" Izzy said, "But remember: we're not here to clear this area. Just stall them, or destroy their rings, if you can. Don't waste all your energy here!"

"Got it!" Frogmon said excited and jumped off the building.

"We'll see about that..." Izzy sighed, "In the mean time, the rest of you go inside and search for a monitor. I'll tell your partners as soon as you have one."

And so the kids along with Patamon ran through a door on the roof, leading to the staircase, while their Digimon chose the direct way down.

They landed in front of a horde of Hagurumon (which Gatomon apparently didn't even find worth mentioning). In the distance, still a block away from the main event, were two Tankmon, who had a harder time aiming for them now, thanks to the Hagurumon blocking their line of sight. With them was one Mekanorimon. From each side of the T-crossing the building was located at, two more enemies approached; two Mekanorimon from the left and both a Mekanorimon and a Tankmon from the right.

"So" Gatomon said smirking, "We wanna use these guys for cover or -?"

But she was interrupted by a Hagurumon launching at her. She sighed and hit him with a Lightning-paw, killing him on the spot.

"_Or do we wanna take care of these little suckers first?_" she continued loudly toward the rest of the horde.

The Hagurumon stared at her for a second – then they immediately scattered in sheer panic.

"Bloody hell!" Flybeemon commented taken aback, "You went straight to murder there!"

"Yeah, well..." Gatomon shrugged, "But hey, from what I've heard, I guess, I can count on you, to keep your mouth shut, eh?" she added with a wink.

Flybeemon sighed, but Frogmon spoke up, before he could say anything else:

"Okay, I take the three in front of us!" she grinned, readying her shuriken.

"No" Flamedramon objected, "You and Flybeemon stay back, so the four from the sides wont get into the building. Gatomon and I take the front."

"You mean, _I_ take the front and you sweep together the leftovers" Gatomon chuckled confidently.

"Whatever!" Flamedramon growled.

"Okay, but I take the right!" Frogmon demanded.

"Fine! Just go!" Flamedramon commanded sprinting toward the trio in front of them.

He quickly got into struggle with the Mekanorimon, who approached them faster than his allies, thanks to a pair of rocket boosters on his back. Flamedramon had a hard time landing a hit on his nimble opponent, since one of the Tankmon had decided to support the robot by firing at Flamedramon with the machine guns attached to his arms.

Gatomon on the other hand had little trouble dealing with the remaining Tankmon; as soon as she reached him she jumped onto him and quickly crawled around on his shell, using her speed and small size to her advantage. She continued this until she was right at his back. Not hesitating even a second she struck the black ring at his waistline with her Lightning-paw. Since Tankmon was too heavy, for the attack to push him even an inch, the full force of the strike was taken up by the ring, which broke under the immense stress.

"Wha-?" Tankmon said confused, coming to from his mind-controlled state, "What? Where am I? What's going -?"

"Long story short, I just freed you from being mind-controlled" Gatomon explained quickly, jumping off him, "You're welcome"

"Wha- oh my -" he stuttered, "That's right! That ring! Holy crap, I don't even know what to say! How can I ever thank -"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" she said hastily "You wanna repay us? How about you help us destroy that black ring on your buddy over there?" she added, pointing at the other Tankmon.

"Sure!" he said looking over – immediately firing his main cannon.

While he did manage to obliterate the ring, he also killed his former comrade in the process.

Gatomon face-palmed and sighed.

"Oh, uh... sorry!" Tankmon said, "I – I can do better! Let me help you with this -"

"No, no!" she said quickly, "It's okay, we take it from here!"

"You sure?"

"_Yup!_" she said indignantly, running over to Flamedramon, to help him, "Enjoy your freedom, buddy!"

Once she closed in on Mekanorimon, she whistled to get his attention. The robot turned to block her first attack, giving Flamedramon the opportunity to strike; he aimed carefully and struck the black ring, wrapped around the base of the glass dome, on the top of his head. The ring shattered and once Mekanorimon recovered from the attack, he expressed his confusion in a similar fashion.

"What the – oh, you freed me!" he exclaimed gratefully, "Thank you so much. Is there anything I can -?"

"_Piss off!_" Gatomon shouted at him, "Come on, get lost! _Move it!_ Go, go, go!"

"Okay, okay!" Mekanorimon said taken aback, and turned to leave the area.

"I don't know what your problem is" Flamedramon said, amused by her outburst, as they returned to the others, "Let 'em kill each other. Less work for us."

"Look, I'd rather avoid any unnecessary casualties, so the rookies wont get on my fucking nerves!"

"You mean like that Hagurumon you murdered, like, half a minute ago?"

"No, your looking at that the wrong way." she argued, "You see, by doing that I saved like twenty of them"

"Touché"

With a scream the Mekanorimon, Frogmon was fighting, exploded.

"Whoops!" Frogmon said startled, "Uh, you guys won't tell anyone, right?"

"You know what?" Gatomon sighed, "Let's just stick to killing everyone, while nobody's looking..."

"Sounds good to me..."

"Oh, no you don't!" Frogmon said suddenly.

They looked and saw that her Tankmon had turned around, and fled back the way he came. Frogmon sprinted after him.

"Wait a minute" Gatomon said puzzled, "I get that the Hagurumon fled: they weren't black-ringed. But the black-ringed ones usually fight to the death, don't they?"

"Oh, god dammit!" Flamedramon cussed and ran after Frogmon.

"It's a trap, isn't it?" Gatomon asked dry.

"Yeah! Go figure! I'll go get her, you help Flybeemon!"

When he turned the corner into the street Tankmon came from, he could hear Gatomon scolding Flybeemon, for struggling at keeping the Mekanorimon at bay. More importantly, though, he saw Frogmon slowly catching up with her opponent. He shot two fireballs at the floor behind him, in order to speed up. At the next crossing, he managed to shoot past her and stopped in front of her arms spread out, so she would stop, too.

"What gives?!" she said frustrated, "I was catching up!"

"Yeah, probably straight into a tr- ARRRGH!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a blue laser beam was shot at him from the top of the slope to their right, the crossing street was leading up, hitting him in the shoulder and tossing him to the side. He had turned back into Veemon, before he even hit the ground.

"Whoa!" Frogmon said surprised, "What the hell was that?"

She tried looking to her right around the corner, but Veemon yelled:

"Get back! He hit me in the shoulder and I devolved _instantly!_"

"Well, who was it?"

"I didn't see..." he said while getting back up. He looked in the direction the laser came from – and immediately started sprinting back towards Flybeemon and Gatomon.

"HOLY SHIT! Run! _RUN!_"

"What?"

"Just go! That's an order!"

"Aw, man!"

"Guys, move into the building" Izzy cut in, "We got an exit: First floor, first room to the left."

"We _really_ could have used that info ten seconds earlier!" Veemon complained.

"Boo hoo, for you"

"Shit..." Veemon panted, "He got me pretty good... I can't - run... can you carry me the rest of the way, Frogmon?"

"Uh... this might be a bad time to tell you that I devolved already, then." Armadillomon said.

"For fuck's sake!" Veemon cussed, while forcing himself to keep sprinting, "Why?!"

"Uh, because I need to fit through the door?" she countered, "Look, I'm not that good at devolving on purpose, I can't get the timing right! Also I'm not that fast!" she yelled as she was falling back, "Can you wait up?"

"Crap!"

"I've got you guys!" Flybeemon shouted touching down next to her, "Hop on!"

The two jumped on his back and he flew them to the entrance of the building. He devolved, since he too was too big, to fit through the door. Looking back, they caught a glimpse at Gatomon given up her attempts at stalling the Mekanorimon and soon she ran inside behind them. They ran up the stairs, which kept exploding behind them, thanks to the robots' relentless attacks.

"_Open the gate!_" Gatomon yelled, even before they reached the room their comrades were in, "_Go, go, go!_"

Entering the room they saw, to their relieve, that Kari had already opened up the gate. Standing next to the light beam, she waved her friends through. The Digimon made a desperate jump toward the beam, narrowly managing to dive into it, before the Mekanorimon violently burst into the room.

* * *

"God dammit…" Veemon panted, once they were back in the lab, "That was a fucking close call…"

"TK" Matt said kneeling down next to his brother, "TK, talk to me."

"Hey, Matt…" TK slurred, "Wazzup…"

"Oh, boy…" Matt mumbled.

"So…" Armadillomon started, "You wanna tell me who attacked you like that, Veemon?"

"Shit, that's right…" Veemon grumbled, "It was a fucking Andromon!"

"Guys" Tai said, but Armadillomon talked over him:

"Really? Aw, man! That could have been a real challenge!"

"_Guys_"

"What?" Veemon exclaimed, "Are you nuts? That guy is an Ultimate! He could have killed both of us with one hit each!"

"_Guys!_" Tai shouted, "Where is my sister?"

Everyone who was still on the floor, recovering from the chase, now hastily stood up, clearing the area, they landed at, on the floor, as if to look for a penny or some keys, they dropped there. Unsurprisingly, neither Kari nor Gatomon were discovered that way.

Meanwhile, Izzy returned his attention to the PC. He scanned the map for a bit before finding a red dot in the industrial area they found TK in. Seeing this, he concluded:

"Yup. She's still in the Digital World."

Tai stared at him in disbelief, then at the rookies.

"Oh, my god!" he exclaimed angry, "You suck! _All_ of you!" he added pointing at the rookies.

"How is this our fault?" Veemon fired back.

"Oh, I don't know!" Tai said sarcastically, "Maybe try and check, if everyone's there before you fucking leave!"

"You want me to do a fucking headcount, while we're being flushed back into your shit hole of a world?"

"You know Veemon…" TK managed to say, "I wanted to ask you how you liked our world… since Poromon liked it… but I guess, now I wont…"

"Hang on, I'll boot up the network again" Izzy said and reestablished the connection, "Kari?"

"Izzy? Oh, thank god!" Kari answered relieved, "The Mekanorimon blew up the monitor. Gatomon and I are trapped in here."

"Yeah, we figured. Can you go anywhere, or do they have you pinned down entirely?"

"Well, I hid in a room without a window." Kari explained, "And Gatomon is fighting off the Mekanorimon still, so – yeah. Pretty much pinned down."

"Alright listen, here is what we'll do - "

"Wait a second" Kari interrupted him, "Gatomon?!"

A moment passed the they heard the door to her room open and close.

"I got these two…" Gatomon said, breathing heavily, "I'm pretty sure no one else saw – no, no, _nonononono!_"

"_What happened?_" Tai asked on edge.

"Gatomon just devolved…" Kari sighed.

"Huh" Izzy said, "I figured I knew that sound: Ringing endorsement."

"Dammit, I hate it, when that happens!" Salamon, Gatomons puppy like Rookie-form said with a noticeably higher pitched voice, "Dogs suck! Actually, now that I think about it, I feel like _cats _suck… See what I mean? This is really confusing!"

"Okay, that settles it" Izzy sighed, "I'm sending the crew inside to get you. I don't see you making it five feet with just 'Puppy howl'…"

"Got it…" TK said bemused, standing up "Alright DigiDestined, let's ro- arrrghh!"

And he bend over an empty trash can and vomited into it.

"Yeah, no" Matt said decisive, "The only place, you're going to, is the emergency room."

He went to help TK up.

"Wait, don't -"

"No discussion!"

"No, I meant – argh! Ugh… okay… alright, I think it's all gone now…"

"Wait a minute…" Tai said growing pale, "Does that mean, we're gonna send… just the rookies?!"

"Tai, I don't know, if you noticed" Izzy said, "but we're kind of low on man power, right now."

"Screw that then!" Tai said rolling up his sleeves, "I'm going in with them!"

"Is that so?" Izzy said unimpressed, "You and what partner? I thought we had an agreement, to introduce new members to the team immediately." he closed sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah…" Tai said, sounding like he just remembered a pesky little detail, "Agumon's still being held prisoner, isn't he? Uh, shouldn't we do something about that?"

"Well" Izzy said annoyed, "There was a rescue mission scheduled for today, but _somebody_ felt the need, to send one of us to the Digital World!"

"I'm sorry, Izzy-Senpai!" Yolei cried.

"Shut up"

"Fuck, Izzy can't you go in there?" Tai suggested nervously.

"I can't. I run this show from here for a reason. I've got some tricks up my sleeve, but I need to be out here overseeing everything or else -"

"Okay!" Tai said annoyed, "I get it! Whatever… Matt… Come on, man. Can you just -"

"No, I have my own brother to worry about." the said blonde said stern, "I'm taking him to the hospital. I'm sorry… my condolences, okay?" he added saddened while glancing at the rookies.

"Fuck you, Matt!"

"That wasn't sarcasm!"

"I know!" Tai bellowed, "Fuck!"

"TK, before you leave" Izzy said as Matt and TK reached the door, "Hand Cody your D-Terminal, okay?"

"Why?" TK asked dazed.

"I wanna test something"

"Okay..." he said handing the Device over.

Matt and TK left and Tai started pacing around the room.

"Okay then" Izzy said, "Rookies, you're up. Get in there, take Matt's Digivice, he left it here, that way you should end up close to the burrow, our Digimon use as a hideout. There's a waypoint on your D3's that will lead you straight to it. Once you're there contact me, I'll give you instructions from there. Oh, just press the button in the bottom right corner of your D3 twice and I will get in touch with you. No more yelling to get my attention. Now hurry up!"

Cody opened the gate and once the rookies and the water were gone Tai slumped down into a chair near Izzy's desk, burying his face in his hands.

"Fuck…" he said desperate, "I'm gonna lose my little sister! Everything's fucked!"

"Tai, you forget that I am still overseeing this shit show." Izzy said calm, "Not all hope is lost."

"Tell him, Izzy" Kari said on the other end, "Tai, calm down it's gonna be fine"

"That being said" Izzy added, "In case this whole thing goes south despite that fact, I just want you to know, that I'm sorry… It's funny, even after seeing you throw yourself in harms way, for the sake of others – so often in fact that I started to question, whether you're suicidal or not – It feels like we could actually lose you this time…" he continued sounding genuinely concerned, "And honestly, I don't know how to feel about that. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I failed to compensate for their idiocy…"

"_Oh, god!_" Tai shouted in agony.

Kari sighed.

"You guys are not reassuring, right now."

* * *

Kari tensed up, when the door to her room opened and was relieved to see, that it was Salamon who had returned, from sneaking around the building, trying to find another monitor.

"Well, the good news is no one else is in here" Salamon sighed, "and there is another TV in here."

"Really?" Kari said hopeful, "Let's go, where is it?"

"You wanna hear the bad news first?"

"Oh, yeah... that's a thing, too, huh?"

"Well, it was next to the stairs near the entrance... aaand the Mekanorimon blew that one up, too."

"I see your point now" Kari said shaking her head, "I _am _way too optimistic..."

"Don't sweat it" Salamon said sitting down next to her, "Also, I occasionally saw a few of our enemies passing by on the main street in the front. The area behind the building looks kinda empty, though. Might be our best shot?"

"We don't know where the nearest monitor is, though..."

"Good point"

"I still think you could have just – you know, let those two Mekanorimon live. From what you've told me, they probably would have been grateful. Maybe they would have helped us."

"Old habits -"

"Die hard..." Kari sighed, "I get it..."

"Yeah, but to be fair, so did those Mekanorimon! Hey ho!"

She went to high-five Kari. The girl hesitated but accepted.

"Just so you know" she said, "I'm not doing this because I think it's funny... I'm doing this because you're adorable as Salamon and I didn't wanna miss out on this chance."

_Beep_

"Kari? Salamon?"

"Izzy?" Kari said standing up.

"The rookies are nearly with you" he said, "I see which building you two are in, but I don't know the floor you are at."

"First floor, from the front of the building" Salamon explained, "But we're closer to the back and there's a slope leading up to it. So, ground-floor from the back."

"Guys, ground-floor" he relayed to the rookies, "Same spot I told you earlier"

Suddenly, they heard a massive bang behind the wall at the back of the building. The brick wall caved in a bit. Someone was trying to get in from the outside.

"Izzy?" Kari said anxious as she and Salamon backed off, "Can you tell them to hurry?"

"Well -"

The wall broke apart as something slammed into it. Kari backed into a corner shielding her head with her arms, while Salamon was ready to fight back:

"_Puppy howl!_"

The intruders froze. There were two of them behind the hole in the wall.

"_Why?_" a familiar voice said strained.

The dust settled. It was Frogmon. Next to her was Flybeemon.

"Oh, it's you!" Kari said relieved.

"Thanks... for that..." Flybeemon said dry, when the stunning effect of Salamon's attack wore off.

"To be fair, I didn't expect our allies to burst in through the freaking wall!" Salamon argued, eye-rolling.

"Can you move again?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah..." Yolei said massaging her neck.

"Then move!" he continued, "You know the plan, get them out of there, then get to the TV you saw earlier"

Kari and Salamon climbed onto Flybeemon's back, but just as they were about to take off, the street between them exploded, knocking all of them to the ground.

"What the...?" Kari said dazzled. She looked around to see who attacked them. She slowly started to get back up, when she spotted him: A tall, slender robot, his body constructed of metal plates, tubes and wires, with only his right leg and left arm having some exposed flesh on them. He wore a black ring around his neck, and his eyes were glowing red.

"Andromon..." Kari said wide-eyed.

"Don't worry!" Frogmon said leaping towards the android, "I got this!"

"Crap!" Flybeemon exclaimed, following her.

While she was approaching him from the right, Flybeemon took the left, effectively flanking Andromon. And thankfully so, because Andromon, focusing on Frogmon, opened up his chest plate and fired a single missile at Frogmon. The rocket appeared to be homing, since Frogmon dodged and it flew in a curve, hitting her anyway. The impact devolved her all the way back to Upamon and cast her along the street back to the kids.

"Okay, nice one!" Upamon said, "But good luck hitting me _now!_"

She went to attack him again, but Cody was faster; he snatched her out of mid air as she was jumping toward their enemy and carried her around a corner, into cover.

"No. You. Don't!" he said sternly, while she was trying to free herself.

"Well" Kari said nervously, as she and Yolei joined Cody, "At least we still got Flybeemon and – wait!"

She stopped and looked around.

"Where are Davis and Veemon?"

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"You have the damn waypoint on your D3, Brainiac!"

"How come, it got so freaking cold so fast?"

"Because our world is weird! What, you have the attention span of a fly? I thought even you must have noticed by now!"

Davis and Veemon where flying on Kabuterimon's back. The enormous blue bug was Tentomon's Champion-form. He had a gray armor piece on his head that was reminiscent of a Samurai's helmet, but with a large horn on its brow. The trio was crossing over the woods which stretched far south from the burrow, towards an energy source Izzy had ordered them to investigate. Their surroundings grew more and more cold as they progressed, and at this point everything below them was covered in snow.

"Guys" Kabuterimon said with his low growling voice.

"Are we there?"

"Dude, just shut up and let him talk!"

"See that big overhang up ahead?" Kabuterimon continued.

They looked and saw what he meant; an elevated plateau, with only a sparse amount of trees on top. The edge stuck out over a large portion of the remaining cliff side almost forming a roof over the area below. It looked like it was supported by columns, but on closer inspection it became clear, that apparently it were icicles that had grown larger and larger as time had progressed, now forming massive columns of frozen water.

"Looks, weird enough to me" Veemon shrugged, "That could be it."

"Are we there?"

"_Please_, let that be it! Please, god!"

They landed and now they could see clearly that the cliffs face was retracting further under the plateau, behind the icicles. It led into a cave further back. There was blue light weakly emitting from the inside, pulsing.

"Thank god..." Veemon sighed relieved.

He went to walk inside, but stopped and turned around to Kabuterimon.

"Hey, can you carry us to the industrial area as well?"

"Don't think so" the bug answered, slightly exhausted "Or if I can, I probably can't make it back to the burrow"

"Alright, gotta evolve me here then. Got it. Brainiac, move it."

When he and Veemon entered the cave, Davis stopped and looked around in awe – only for Veemon to kick him in the leg.

"Move!" he shouted, "We're on the clock!"

They hurried through the interior of the cave, which was completely covered in ice crystals. Crests were embedded into the larger crystals, all of them glowing blue and pulsing in perfect unison. Davis walked up to the egg, which rested on a small throne like structure, made of upwards pointing icicles. The crest of friendship – or envy, as the DigiDestined knew it – was embedded into the back of the structure.

Davis picked up the egg which, in its shape, looked almost more akin to a peanut than an actual egg. It was completely black, with some golden accents on the sides which gave it a look, like it had jaws and sharp teeth. On its top there was a gold and silver horn, taking on the rough shape of a lightning bolt. Right behind the horn was the crest of friendship engraved in blue.

"Huh" he said surprised, while his D-Terminal absorbed it, "That was easier than the others."

"Probably because nobody's nagging us, to cradle our enemies to sleep..." Veemon muttered, "Now come on, digivolve me! I'm ready, let's go!"

"Alright..." Davis said uncertain, "Here goes nothing..."

"You almost did it, last time" Veemon sighed, "Keep calm and focus."

Davis blinked.

"Why are you so nice all over sudden?"

"I'm not, asshole!"

"Oh, okay..."

"I just figured, death threats can only motivate you so much. Now get going!"

Davis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He raised the D-Terminal above his head.

_Beep_

Davis opened one eye.

"Hey, what's your status?" Izzy asked.

"_Status?_" Davis asked puzzled.

"We got the egg!" Veemon answered instead, annoyed, "Izzy, can you be quiet for a second? You're breaking Brainiac's concentration."

"He has that?" Izzy asked, clearly raising an eyebrow, "So, you're trying to use the egg? Because that wont be necessary, anymore. Mission's over."

Since he couldn't see Izzy, he chose to just stare ahead for a moment.

"Come again?" he said in disbelief, "You were breaking up there"

"I said: The mission is over."

"You're breaking up agai- fuck it - _what do you mean, the mission is over?!_" Veemon shouted, "What the fuck? I was ready to save the day!"

"Oh, my heart is just bleeding for you..." Izzy said dead panned, "Take Kabuterimon to the desert, the others spotted a TV there. I just talked to him, it's not too much of a detour, so he should be able to make it. Veemon, your job is to make sure everyone goes through the gate safely. Should you not make it through yourself, just take Kabuterimon back to the burrow and stay there until the next mission."

"Fine" Veemon said, "I need a break from Brainiac anyway... But wait! Why wouldn't I make it through myself, though?"

Izzy didn't answer right away, so Veemon continued:

"They're being chased again, aren't they?"

"Precisely"

* * *

Flybeemon circled widely around Andromon trying to hit him with his stingers. But nearly every shot bounced off Andromon's metal body – he didn't even react to the projectiles hitting him. The robot pointed his arm at him, but for a brief moment, he seemed to struggle with his movement. He fired his blue laser at him but since he was having trouble just before, he slightly lagged behind, barely missing him as a result. Seeing a window for a counter attack, Flybeemon shot his purple lightning at him, stunning him briefly.

While it didn't exactly give him the edge in the fight, it did give Kari an idea. She had seen this before while she was watching the fight: Previously, Andromon had tried hitting him with his rockets, but Flybeemon kept flying very close to the surrounding buildings, so the missiles didn't have enough space to turn, causing them to crash into the facades instead. But even at that time, Andromon had brief moments when he slowed down or even froze entirely. As if he was fighting the ring's effects!

"Andromon!" she shouted, deliberately walking out of cover and into the middle of the street.

"Kari, what are you doing?!" Tai asked in a slight panic.

"You do realize, we can see what you're doing, through your camera, right?" Izzy added.

Kari ignored them. She needed to talk to Andromon, and just Andromon.

The android turned, and took a step towards her. Flybeemon used Kari's involuntary distraction and stunned the Ultimate again.

Kari prayed it wouldn't work against her efforts. On the other hand, it probably was the best they could do in case Andromon decided to attack her.

"You know me..." she said insistently, "Don't you?"

"I -" he started but Flybeemon stunned him again, since he took another step toward the girl.

"We want to help you" she said, not once breaking eye-contact with him.

"I know your voice" Andromon spoke his first complete sentence. He sounded like a text-to-speech program, like every word he spoke was recorded separately from the rest. In short there was no emphasis in any word he spoke – and if there was it sounded just wrong.

Kari took a step closer.

"I'm Kari" she said, "I'm one of your friends"

"Kari" Andromon repeated, "Are you the one, they call Queen Kari?"

Kari went to answer, but suddenly Flybeemon closed in and tried to destroy Andromon's black ring – Andromon didn't even look at him, when he hit him with his metal fist. Flybeemon was hurled into a wall next to Andromon, devolving on impact.

"Hawkmon!" Yolei called out, but Cody held her back.

Hawkmon got back up, holding the back of his head and slowly made his way over to his companions. Concerned he looked at Andromon the entire time, while awkwardly making his way past him.

"Alright..." he mumbled, "Don't mind me... coming through..."

"I'm a DigiDestined" Kari continued, slowly walking up to him until she was directly in front of him, "I'm Tai's sister."

Without a warning Andromon reached out to her with both hands, grabbed her by the shoulders and picked her up.

"Kari?!" Tai exclaimed.

"Don't worry..." Kari said softly.

Andromon held her at arms length. His eyes quickly flickered up down, as if he was scanning her head to toe, to confirm his suspicion. It didn't exactly help making her less uneasy, but she understood. She noticed how the ring was glowing dark red now; the Emperor was fighting to stay in control.

"You are Queen Kari." Andromon said, "You are the little sister of Lazy Tai."

Kari sighed, since she wasn't to keen on her new title.

"Yes..." she mumbled, "I am Queen Kari, Lazy Tai's little sister..."

Andromon started shaking slightly.

"You are my friend" he said, "My friend, my friend my friend myfriendmyfriendfriendfriefriefriefrifrfrfrfrfrfrfrfr"

He dropped her and raised his hands further, now shaking violently.

"Andromon?" Kari said afraid, sitting on the ground, looking up to him.

His hands reached up to his neck – and snapped the black ring clean in half.

He let his arms drop, holding on to both halves for a second, then he dropped them to the ground and they dissolved half way down.

"That was a thing" he said monotone.

"Yeah" Kari said with a shy laugh, "It was..."

"How is your brother?"

"Oh, fuck..." she heard him sigh on the other end, "Holy fucking shit!"

"He's, uh... recovering..."

"You better run"

"Huh?"

"THEY TURNED HIM! ATTACK!"

Suddenly, explosions started going off everywhere. It was raining debris and fire; apparently their remaining enemies had heard the commotion from their fight with Andromon – resulting in them bringing together all the Emperor's allies in the industrial area to attack them at once. From all directions there were Tankmon, Mekanorimon and Hagurumon closing in on their position.

"Flee" Andromon said loudly, "I hold them off"

"How would you do that?!" Yolei screeched in terror, "There's so many of them! And how would _we _do that? They're everywhere!"

"Cody, the D-Terminal!" Izzy commanded, "Give it to Kari! Kari, use the egg of light!"

"Would that even- "Kari started as she hurried over to the others, but a shot from a Tankmon blew up the facade of a building next to her. She was thrown to the side and with a short scream of pain, she hit the floor.

"Kari!" Tai said, "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine…" she said while getting back up.

"You're bleeding!" Salamon said concerned and looked at her left leg.

"It's no big deal, we need to go!"

"Here!" Cody said, as the two caught up to the rest of the crew and passed her TK's D-Terminal. They ran into the direction, Cody and Yolei had arrived from, but even that wasn't ideal, since they saw some black-ringed Digimon in the distance.

While running, Kari raised the D-Terminal above her head, shouting:

"Digi-armor energize!"

Salamon jumped ahead, started to glow and finally transformed in mid air.

"Salamon armor-digivolve to…" she said, while growing larger than a regular horse, "Nefertimon!"

Her body had taken on the form of an enormous white lion. She had Gatomon's gloves on her front paws and purple stripes on her tail, exactly like her champion-form. She wore the death mask of an Egyptian queen on her head, giving her the appearance of a sphinx. Similar to Pegasusmon she had angel like wings on her back, as well as silver, gold engraved armor plates on her chest, shoulders and front legs.

Nefertimon stopped in front of them, kneeling down so they could all climb onto her back. Once the trio and their partners were all safely on top of her, she started running. Thanks to her enormous wings, she was able to take off rather quickly. It was a bumpy ride, though; everyone was attacking them yet again. Looking over her shoulder, Kari saw that Andromon was only able to hold off a few of them. Explosions were going off all around them, and while Nefertimon managed to dodge the attacks fairly well, there was a number of blasts, threatening to throw them off.

"OH, GOD NOOO!" Yolei screamed.

"Calm the hell down and hold on!" Nefertimon demanded.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

"Just hold on!"

* * *

"Izzy are you serious, right now?" Tai asked massaging his temples, when his friend switched channels, "You really trying to kill me, aren't you?"

"Shut up Tai, this is important" Izzy said dismissively, "Guys, what's your progress?"

"_Progress?_" a voice o the other end hissed.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Uh, actually that was me this time" Veemon said, "And what I meant was: What do you mean progress? We're at the TV, man! I thought you can see us on the map!"

"Splendid, now when I give you the signal, you open the gate."

"Got it" Veemon said.

"Great, awesome" Tai said frantically, "Now, switch back, alright?"

"Fine, I'll humor you" Izzy said and unmuted the rest of the team.

Immediately the room filled with Yolei's panicked screams:

"OH JESUS! PLEASE DON'T! PLEASE DO-O-OON'T!"

"On second thought maybe you should keep Wannabe muted…"

"They're all next to each other, Tai. Why do you think, I muted them in the first place? Nefertimon, you are still on target keep going like this."

"I think, I see someone in the distance, is that them?" Nefertimon asked.

"Yes, you should be able to see them"

"Who the hell is Nefertimon?" Veemon asked confused.

"You'll see in a second. Now, get ready Davis. Timing is of the essence!"

"What?"

"It's important!"

"Oh, come on!" Veemon huffed, "Who the fuck is chasing them? An ar- _oh, my god! _Did they piss off the entire city?"

"Don't panic" Izzy said, "I prepared something for the occasion. Nefertimon, keep going straight ahead. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid you being affected as well."

"Can you just tell us what the damn plan is, already?!" Nefertimon asked annoyed.

"How about I show you instead?" the red head replied hitting a key on his laptop. Through Kari's camera, they saw the sand of the dunes below being thrown high into the air, creating a massive dust cloud all around them.

"Whoa!" Veemon ad Davis shouted in unison.

"You know, a more concrete warning would have been nice!" Nefertimon hissed.

"At least they stopped firing at us!" Yolei said shaking.

Just a moment later, they watched their vision clearing up, as they emerged from the cloud.

"Davis, open the gate!" Izzy said.

The area surrounding the TV was apparently completely unaffected by Izzy's diversion, so the cloud was forming a perfect square around it. Thankfully, Davis had already opened the gate, so everything that was left to do for Nefertimon, was to head straight for it. Tai and Izzy witnessed, how she devolved shortly before they reached the TV, sending all of them flying (and screaming) into the beam of light.

Upon realizing what was about to happen, Izzy quickly turned in his chair, pushed himself backwards away from the screen, and watched, unfazed, as it vomited out their team mates along with a torrent of water. Coughing they remained on the floor, when suddenly Davis was ejected, too. He landed on Cody.

"Crap" Veemon, who was still in the Digital World, said, "They blew up the TV... Anyway, I'm off with Kabuterimon. See you guys."

Izzy glanced at the monitor.

"You're heading in the right direction. The cloud should reach the edge of the forest, so it should provide you with enough cover to lose them quickly."

"Man" Veemon said, "Is there anything you _can't_ do with hacking?"

"I literally threw sand into the air" Izzy said, "Honestly, I figured this would be a strong contender for the most useless thing I could do, so far. Good thing, I remembered it, though. I'll keep the channel open in case you need me to guide you back to the burrow."

"I think, I'm gonna be sick..." Cody said, crawling over to the trash can TK had barfed into earlier.

Meanwhile Yolei sat on the floor, rocking back and forth, clutching Hawkmon tightly and mumbling:

"They're gone... they can't hurt us anymore... we're safe... we're safe..."

"You're smothering me..." Hawkmon choked.

"That was a train wreck..." Izzy concluded somberly.

"Well, we freed Andromon" Kari argued.

"Oh, sure the mission wasn't completely irredeemable." Izzy agreed, "However, it shouldn't have been a thing, in the first place! You should probably see a doctor for your leg, by the way." he added watching her, as Tai helped her back onto her feet; Kari had a large cut on her left leg, which was bleeding badly.

"Yeah..." she mumbled, "Oh, by the way: If you lose a lot of blood in the Digital World, would that be like losing it in the real world?"

"I would assume so..." Izzy said alarmed.

"Oh" Kari said calm, "So, that's why I feel dizzy..."

"Oh, my god!" Tai said annoyed, (his sister had a habit of brushing off her wounds and sicknesses as "no big deal", no matter how life threatening they actually were), "I get you to a doctor..."

He walked her to the door. On the door step he turned around one more time.

"You guys still suck!" he said to the rookies, "If you would've just fucking left immediately, Kari would fine! But _no!_"

"Whatever" Upamon said pouting, "Your face sucks!"

Tai flipped them off over his shoulder, while leaving and Cody threw up into the trash can.

"Mission accomplished, everyone..." Izzy moaned.


	8. Evil Downward Spiral

-x-

**Chapter Eight**

**Evil Downward Spiral**

"God, I'm fucking bored!" Veemon complained.

He was sitting at the entrance of the burrow next to Garurumon, who was tasked with guarding it. He was an enormous, white wolf, even bigger than Nefertimon. His pelt had blue tiger stripes and he had red claws on his paws.

They had spent the past three days there, since Kari and TK were both recovering from their injuries.

It was noon and Garurumon was lying in a corner next to entrance, resting his head on his front paws and staring blankly ahead. Occasionally he responded to Veemon's ranting with ambiguous murmuring and grunting:

"Hmm..."

"I mean, is bubbly small talk the only fucking way you spent your free time?"

"If you say so..."

"Oh shit, alright I get the hint" Veemon muttered, "You know you can tell me, if I get on your nerves. I can deal with it. I'd tell you to go fuck yourself and then leave you be!"

"No..." the wolf said, "Sorry, that's not it. I'm just down... not really in the mood to talk... I can listen, though."

"Man, you're a just the perfect partner for that emo kid, aren't you? A match made in heaven"

"Come on now!" Garurumon grumbled, "Don't call him that! Also I'm not usually like this..."

"Then what are you like?"

"I don't know..."

"You don't know?" Veemon laughed.

"I'm really bad at self reflection, okay?" Garurumon said defensive, "Ask the others... I guess, I'm nice... at least that's what I've heard..."

"Wow, you sure proved your point..." the rookie-level said shaking his head, "Is that why you can put up with emo kid as your partner? Because you're nice and stuff?"

"I said don't call him that!"

"Fine, but only because I'm looking for some serious advice."

"Advice?"

"Guys!" Tentomon chimed in, "We were talking about restaurants and we need another opinion: What do you think is the best restaurant around here?"

"Tentomon!" Biyomon and Palmon shouted.

"Huh?" he said confused, "What?"

He looked at Garurumon who was covering his face with his paws.

"Oh, uh..." Tentomon said awkward, "Well... okay, I guess I know Garurumon's answer..." he said flying back to Biyomon and Palmon.

"I see what you mean, now..." Garurumon said trying to gather his composure, "Bubbly small talk sucks!"

"Oh, my god!" Veemon growled, "It's a _restaurant!_ Get over it!"

Garurumon ignored him and took a deep breath.

"So, what's that advice you're looking for?" he said, clearly eager, to get as far away from the subject of restaurants, as possible.

"Right, I wanna find a way to deal with my annoying ass partner without – you know – killing him!"

"I don't know, if I'm the right candidate for that..."

"That's right" Veemon said, "You _wouldn't_ know."

"I don't know – try being nicer?"

"No, no, no! You got that wrong! This isn't a 'me'-problem!"

"Apparently it is, since you're asking me for advice, what you could do, to make things better..."

"No, I'm asking for alternatives for killing him!"

"I can't help you with that than..."

"Fucking typical!" Veemon hissed and got up.

He was about to walk back inside, when Garurumon suddenly stopped him:

"Wait!" he whispered and his ears perked up, "Do you hear something?"

Veemon stopped and listened closely.

"What?" he said quietly, "I don't hear anything"

"It's like a swooshing sound..."

"Wait, I think, I hear it too, now... _What is that?_"

"It's coming from above..." Garurumon said and carefully snuck forward so he could peek out from under the tree.

It was already too late when they spotted them: Two missiles flew directly at the burrow and hit the tree above. The explosion ripped through a massive root, that formed an arch over the entrance. The root broke off and fell. Garurumon leaped forward trying to dodge it, but it was to late: The chunk of wood landed on his hind legs, burying them underneath itself. Garurumon roared in pain.

Suddenly something big blocked out the sun. A massive creature broke through the tree tops and landed violently in front of the burrow, causing the ground to shake.

The Digimon looked like Greymon, but his skin was of a dark blue, and the stripes on his back were black. Instead of the Skull he wore on his head, it was a metal mask of a similar yet simplified shape and there was red hair sticking out from under it, at its back. His left arm was covered in a massive metal sleeve with three long claws on its end. The creature closed the metal plates which covered two barrels embedded into his chest (apparently where they fired their rockets from). Two tubes on each side of the chest plates led into his body, connecting to his inner organs. He had black tethered wings, reminiscent of those an insect or a fairy would have and additionally he wore a black spiral on his right arm.

"MetalGreymon…" Garurumon growled strained, "Dammit! Veemon, what do we -"

Veemon was gone.

"Oh, come on!"

"Why, hello there"

Garurumon looked up to see the Emperor standing on MetalGreymon's back. The boy grinned and pointed a black D3 at Garurumon.

"You know, I was actually just planning to burn this place to the ground and catch those pesky little rookie-levels with my black rings." he said and a stream of data started to flow from Garurumon to the D3, "But it seems, with you I found something even more useful…"

"What are you doing?" Garurumon said irritated.

The Emperor ignored him, opened his D-Terminal and send out a number of black rings. One of them headed straight for Garurumon. The wolf narrowly managed to destroy it with blue flames he shot from his mouth. However, the rest of the rings flew right past him, directly into the burrow.

Just before they disappeared out of sight, a large ball of lightning flew the opposite way out of the burrow and collided with them, destroying all of them in one go.

"What?!" the Emperor shouted.

Kabuterimon flew out of the burrow, grabbed the root pinning down Garurumon's legs and threw it at MetalGreymon. He shot another lightning attack after it in order to speed it up.

The root hit MetalGreymon in the face and the dinosaur stumbled backwards.

"Well..." the Emperor said smug, when MetalGreymon stood stable again, "This day keeps getting better and better"

* * *

Izzy stretched at his desk. His final classes for the day had been canceled, so he had decided to spent his extra time in the empty computer lab. He had breezed through his homework in record time and was now considering to do some more testing, for what he could do in the Digital World.

Kari and TK had mostly recovered, although she was still unable to run and he had his right hand still bandaged up. But still, the team had decided to meet up again, hopefully to finally initiate the Agumon rescue mission.

But the others still had classes, so Izzy still had time to kill.

He was just reaching into his back to grab another chocolate bar, when he heard a beeping sound from his laptop, telling him that someone from the network was reaching out to him – only the sound didn't just come up once, but over and over, rapidly repeating itself.

He looked at the screen. As usual a message popped up, as a reminder, in case he missed the initial signal – and since the button to contact him was apparently being spammed right now, every second or so a new one popped up.

Irritated, he connected to Matt's Digivice at the burrow.

"What is it?" he asked somewhat annoyed, "I told you to press the button tw-"

He was cut off by literally everyone on the other end talking over each other. Panicked voices from the hideout mixed together, to a horrendous wall of sound. The only words Izzy could make out clearly, were "Izzy", "attack", "terrible" and "hurry" - but only because they repeated them in a frenzy.

"Calm down!" he exclaimed, "One at the time! Veemon, what's going on?"

"We're under attack!" Veemon said frantically, "It's the Emperor!"

"Shit!" Izzy said hectically, opening up a live-feed to one of the surveillance cameras surrounding the burrow: The camera showed the entrance to the burrow and Garurumon in front of it – and with him were a blue corrupted looking version of MetalGreymon and the Emperor standing on his shoulder. Izzy noticed that something was off about this view of the burrow, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Shit, _shit! _Tentomon, get to the Digivolution spot!"

"Wha- oh, right!" Tentomon said, overcoming his initial confusion, "Okay, I'm ready!"

Izzy plugged his Digivice into a special port on his laptop and hit the middle button on its right side.

"Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon!"

"Hurry!" Izzy shouted, "He using black rings!"

To his relieve he saw Kabuterimon's attack fly out of the burrow, just a moment later, obliterating the black rings the Emperor had send out.

"Keep them busy" Izzy commanded, "The rest of you: Is there a way to get out on the backside?"

"Yes!" Biyomon said, "There's a small gap. I think we can squeeze through there!"

"Perfect, do that! Get outside, keep going that direction and look out for a TV"

Suddenly it dawned on Izzy what was off about the cameras.

"Did any of you move the surveillance cameras in the area?"

"What?" Palmon asked, "No, why would we?"

"Nope" Veemon said.

"Me neither" Biyomon replied.

"Fuck!" Izzy cussed, "I thought so! Of course he can use them, too! What was I thinking?!"

"What do you mean?" Veemon asked.

"Just go!" Izzy barked, "I'll go get help!"

With that, he shut his laptop, took it under his arm and ran out of the lab. While doing so his mind was racing; who should he get to help? There was an obvious answer – one he didn't like. He sprinted down the corridor, towards that location, anyway. They didn't have long. Just Kabuterimon and Garurumon against MetalGreymon? And both of them weakened? They needed support, right away!

He turned the corner and barely managed to stop, as he would have otherwise bumped into a teacher heading the other way.

The teacher was a tall black haired man in his twenties. As usual he wore an open lab coat and a shirt with a big star on it beneath, along with some cargo shorts. He had just started teaching at their school but Izzy knew him from occasionally having classes with him.

"Sorry, Mr. Nishijima..." he said out of breath.

"Izumi" the teacher said, "Shouldn't you be in class, right now?"

"Uh, second years have the rest of the day off" Izzy explained, "Don't think they gave us a reason, though – or, if they did, it wasn't a very good one..."

Mr. Nishijima briefly looked away contemplating.

"Yeah, that actually sounds pretty accurate to the way our school administration handles its politics..." he admitted.

"Well, I'm sorry but I'm in kind of a hurry, so..." Izzy said walking past him.

"Oh" Nishijima said, "Okay then, take care!"

Izzy had only walked a few feet, before he stopped again; He still needed a way to get his support out of class…

"Uh, Mr. Nishijima?" he said turning to face his teacher again.

Nishijima stopped and looked back.

"What is it?"

"I'm having a bit of an emergency" the red head explained, "Or rather, one of my friends does and I need to get him out of class, so he can deal with it."

"Um…" Nishijima said scratching the back of his head, "I don't know if I can help you with that… I mean if his parents called the school office, that would be a different story, but… just a… friend… that would…"

He trailed off. Izzy noticed how his gaze found his left hand, which was holding his Digivice. Slowly and subtly he turned his hand, so it would obscure the teachers view. Then, just as slowly, he slipped it into his pocket.

Nishijima snapped out of it, now looking Izzy straight in the face.

"I'm sorry, what was I talking about?"

For a moment Izzy considered his options: Could he take advantage of the fact that Mr. Nishijima apparently lost his train of thought? Was there a way abuse this circumstance, so he could subtly manipulate him into helping him, anyway?

But Mr. Nishijima cut his contemplation short:

"You know what? Let's give it a shot. Maybe I can help you after all"

"Really? Okay, sure. Let's go then!" Izzy said, surprised at first, but then he quickly jumped on board, so the teacher wouldn't change his mind.

"So, who is it?"

"Ugh…"

"What's the matter?" Nishijima asked puzzled, "I thought you were friends?"

"Considering the context, I may have used that term a little… eh, whatever. It will make more sense, once you get to know us better…" Izzy muttered.

* * *

"We're gonna go back for them, tough… right?" Biyomon asked while she, Palmon and Veemon hurried through the forest, behind the burrow.

"As rookies?" Veemon asked baffled, "Well, it depends: You wanna go back to kill yourselves or to get them out of there?"

"Very funny" Biyomon said dry.

"Huh… I didn't realize I made a joke."

"Hey!" a familiar voice called from a distance, "Over here!"

"Huh?"

They looked to their right, to see who it was. They saw a person waving their arms at them. They made their way through the woodwork, to get a better look.

While they ran towards them, Izzy reestablished the connection:

"Good, I see you're already about to meet up with our reinforcements."

"_Are you serious?_" Veemon asked in disbelief as soon as he recognized, who was waving at them, "_That's _the best we can do?"

It was Davis.

"Hey guys!" he said excited, "Who are we fighting today?" he added rubbing his hands.

"God dammit!" Veemon growled.

"Well Veemon, everyone is in class right now, and I only got to get one of them out." Izzy explained patiently, "Not only can he be send directly to your general location, without any problems because you're already there, Veemon – but he can also digivolve you. Now, can you give me _one_ good reason, why you should complain about this?"

"I'm glad you asked" Veemon said smug, "Because I prepared a list."

"Veemon!"

"_Fine!_ Let's work with him! Whatever… But just so you know: I don't like our chances."

"Duly noted"

Davis pulled out his D-Terminal and opened it.

"Oh yeah, by the way, Izzy" Veemon said seeing this, "It was your idea to get him, so you hold his hand, while he tries to say the thing"

"Fine by me" Izzy sighed.

"No, wait!" Davis said suddenly, "I got this, okay?"

"What, did you practice in front of the mirror, while I was gone?" Veemon giggled.

Davis hesitated.

"Just -" he said blushing, "Let me handle this, okay?!"

"Davis -" Izzy started but Davis already held up the D-Terminal.

"Digi-armor eneeeeeergize!"

"Holy shit…" Veemon mumbled in disbelief and started to glow, "He actually did it! I mean – he still sounds like a retard, saying it but - _he actually did it!_"

"Before we throw a fucking party for him" Izzy intervened, "I have just one question: He did use the egg of courage, right? You know, since we know, it turns you into Flamedramon? Just so we can avoid a fish out of water situation like with Manbomon?"

"Uh no, he used the new one"

"Why do I even bother…" Izzy growled, "Well, fingers crossed, I guess… Or – brace for impact! Whatever you prefer…"

Just a few hundred feet away, Kabuterimon struggled against MetalGreymon who had him pinned against the tree above the burrow, on the right side next to the entrance, holding him in place with his metal arm. Garurumon tried to help his friend, jumping toward the dinosaur, shooting his flames at him, but MetalGreymon hurled him into the tree with a single whip of his tail. Garurumon growled and hit the floor unconscious, before turning back into Gabumon.

"Gabumon!" Kabuterimon shouted, but had to watch helplessly as the Emperor let loose another black ring, putting it around Gabumon's neck.

"Okay then" the Emperor grinned and pointed his D3 at Kabuterimon "That's better. Now we can handle this in peace."

"What - what's happening?" Kabuterimon asked startled as it looked like the Emperor's D3 was absorbing his data.

"Don't worry" the boy said tauntingly, "This wont hurt one bit…"

"Huh, you're right…" the bug said surprised, "This doesn't hurt at all! I don't feel any- wait a minute!" he added suspiciously, "What are doing to me?"

"Why would I tell you?" the Emperor huffed, "It's not like I'm gonna ask, if you're okay with it."

"Damn it, that's a good point!"

"Now, just relax… Make this easier for all of us…"

Suddenly a bolt of blue lightning came in from the right, hitting MetalGreymon's metal arm. His arm was shoved to the side, but that wasn't all: Massive ice crystals quickly grew at the point of impact. The sudden new weight dragged the metal limb down and it hit the ground, freeing Kabuterimon in the process.

"What?" the Emperor shouted, "What was -?"

A large, wolf like creature leaped across, in between Kabuterimon and MetalGreymon and landed between them and Gabumon.

The creature appeared to be akin to a blue, quadrupedal lizard wearing a black suit of armor, covering everything but their head and tail. They wore a black face mask, covering the upper half of their head. Its lower edge was shaped like a row of teeth and the lightning shaped blade, that was present on the egg of friendship was attached to its forehead. There were two large thorns attached to the armor plate on their back near the shoulders and one in between them. All of them had a similar lightning-esque form. The creature also had the crest of friendship painted on their chest plate.

"How about you pick on someone your own level?" the new arrival growled with Veemon's voice.

"You mean like you?" the Emperor said raising an eyebrow, "You look like one of these in-between-champion-and-rookie-levels, your team can access with these weird eggs."

"Uh, yeah – to be honest I couldn't think of a good one-liner..." the armor-level admitted, "But hey, this shitty in-between-level just fucked you up really good, didn't he, asshole?"

The Emperor didn't respond. Instead he gave MetalGreymon a sign and the Ultimate shot off the end of his metal arm briefly, before immediately reattaching it, completely shattering the ice encasing it.

"You were saying?" the raven haired boy said dead panned.

"I..." the creature began, taken aback, "Yeah, I got nothing, can't argue with that. However!"

And he shot out more lightning from the blade on his head, this time in a line at MetalGreymon's feet, freezing them in place.

"Go! Let's move! NOW!" the Armor-Digimon barked.

"_Damn it!_" the Emperor shouted, "Kill them!"

The armor-level jumped towards Gabumon, who was still out cold, picking him up with his mouth by his neck, like a lion would do with their cubs. He jumped around the left side of the burrow, while Kabuterimon remained on the right.

"Where to?" the bug asked loudly.

"Where Ishy told ush to go, earlier!" the lizard answered, unable to speak properly, since he still carried Gabumon with his mouth.

"Uuuuh..." Kabuterimon started, "What?"

"Ishy!"

"What?"

"Your fartner!"

"Ummm…"

"Jusht follow ee!" the newcomer interrupted annoyed, circling the burrow a little more so he was in front of his companion again leading the way.

They heard a shattering sound behind them; MetalGreymon had freed himself from the ice. Mere seconds later, the first rockets hit the trees around them.

"Ugh!" Kabuterimon grunted and looked over his shoulder, "I think we can outrun him! Looks like he's to big to fit between the trees! They're slowing him down!"

"Sure, wut hish rocketsh sheem to do jusht fucking fine!"

"If they weren't homing, I'd say this won't be a prob- ah!"

One of the missiles hit a tree just next to Kabuterimon, with its shock wave pushing him to the side.

"I'm okay!" he said, "I'm – oh, never mind looks like I'm devolving…"

He turned back into Tentomon.

"You guysh really shuck ash shampionsh…" the other Digimon sighed shaking his head

"Shut up, Vee- uh…"

Tentomon looked at him, questioning.

"Who are you, now? I've never seen this form."

"Raidrawon"

"Raidramon?"

"Yesh"

"Rai_dra_mon?"

"_Yesh!_"

Since his bug eyes enabled him to look in multiple directions at once, he stared directly at Raidramon for a few seconds while flying next to him.

"_What?_" Raidramon asked annoyed.

"You look nothing like a dragon…"

"Sheemsh to we a fucking thewe, for ee…"

"I don't know what you said, but I'm sure it made sense in your head."

"Up your'sh!"

The following rockets strayed further and further from the path, the two took. Another hopeful glance back the way they came, revealed to Tentomon:

"They're falling behind!"

"Jusht keep going anyway!" Raidramon commanded, "Shee that glow uf ahead?"

"Yes!" Tentomon said excited, "That's gotta be the gate! I think we can make it!"

He looked at Raidramon and gasped.

"What?" Raidramon asked impatiently.

"Gabumon still has the black ring!"

"Oh..."

Raidramon briefly glanced to the side – then he bit down harder destroying the black ring.

If Tentomon's face could emote, he undoubtedly would have looked horrified.

"That was risky as hell..."

"Oh, don't craf yourself" Raidramon said, "It worked, didn't it? I felt the thing under wy fucking teeth, go cry ee a river, I knew what I was doing!"

"Uh..." Tentomon said, as they closed in on the TV Davis found (he stood beside it, waving his arms, as if that would help them, see the gate better), "Yeah, whatever you just said! Let's get outta here!"

They jumped into the light beam and as Raidramon turned into Veemon, light turned into water, and finally the Digital World turned into the school's less than unimpressive computer lab.

"Holy shit, that was close!" Izzy sighed in relieve, as Davis hit the floor after the rest of his team mates. The red haired boy put his head back, and covered his face with his hands.

"Pff! Wasn't _that_ close" Veemon argued unimpressed, "They were like ten miles behind us!"

"Veemon" Izzy said from behind his hands, "_Don't test me..._"

* * *

"Come on, Tai! Hurry up!"

"Sora, you look way too excited for a life or death situation"

Tai was following a redheaded girl down the hallway to the computer lab. She was a sporty girl, slightly shorter than Tai, with shoulder length hair and crimson eyes. Her name was Sora Takenouchi.

"It's not like, I'm not worried!" Sora said, somewhat beaming, "But you gotta admit: It's kinda awesome! Being back in the game, I mean. That life or death stuff... I can do without..." she added awkwardly.

"Yeah, let's call it 'being back in the game'..." Tai huffed, "Also, if it's so awesome, why didn't you show up to the first three missions? You keep saying, you were busy."

"I was!"

"That's a lame excuse"

"No, it isn't!"

"It is. What's more important than saving the world? Or the – Digital World..."

"Fine..." she muttered, "My mom figured out what was going on, so she made me take care of the store, because she was 'sick'..." she added with air quotes.

Tai shot her a look, eyebrows raised.

"You mean, you blabbed?"

"I -!" Sora started – before she sighed defeated, "Yeah... Look, I got really excited, that we finally had some action, again! And _then_ Mimi wrote me, that she was coming, too! It just slipped out..."

"Well, at least she told _one_ of us beforehand..." Tai grumbled, "Also, you thought _Mimi_ was good reason, to come as well?"

"I never said that..." Sora mumbled embarrassed, avoiding eye-contact, "Anyway" she deflected, "My moms all out of excuses, now. So, I'm gonna take my chance." she closed with a satisfied smirk.

"Five bucks, she's gonna have some ridiculous reason, to ground you, by tomorrow" Tai suggested dry, knowing the protective nature of Sora's mother, well.

"You know what, if she does, I'm just gonna yell at her for an hour and tell her, that I hate her." the girl said relaxed, "Worked the last five hundred times" she shrugged.

"So, is it a bet?" Tai asked once they came to a halt in front of the door to the lab.

Sora looked at him smugly.

"It is, Yagami." she said shaking his hand, to seal the deal.

"But wait, how do I get my money, when you're grounded?"

Sora shot him another look, eyes narrowed, before sliding the door open.

"_Sora!_" Biyomon called out, clearly far beyond excitement.

She immediately flew across the room straight into her partner's welcoming arms.

"Biyomon!" Sora exclaimed happy, kneeling down while holding her.

They hugged for a moment, then Sora looked up, to the rest of the crew again.

Everyone else was already there, Matt was the only one missing – and Joe and Mimi, of course.

"Oh, you are the new guys, right?" Sora said standing up again, looking at the rookies, "I'm Sora." she continued with a welcoming smile.

The rookies introduced themselves equally friendly, except for Veemon, who kept as introduction as brief as humanly possible ("Veemon" he said nodding), and Hawkmon who looked at the floor, while mumbling his name unusually timid.

Sora quickly made her way around the room, greeting her old friends individually; Kari with a hug, TK with a fist bump and Izzy with a quick wave as she arrived in front of him. Since he wasn't to keen on physical contact, he returned the greeting in kind, adding a nod and a quick, appreciative smile.

"So" Sora said with a small chuckle, looking around once more, "Looks like Mimi is late again, huh?"

"_Mimi?_" Izzy asked bewildered, "She's more than six thousand miles away... as usual... why would you expect her here?"

"Because she wrote me she'd come here!" Sora said baffled, "Just a few days ago! You're telling me she came all the way to Japan for like three days?"

"Close" Izzy said simply, "She was here for a solid day. If even..."

"What? Doesn't the flight alone take half a day?"

"Yeah, coming to think of it, her time line really doesn't make much sense." Izzy contemplated, "So, either she was bullshitting us, and she spend about a week here, shopping, before finally deciding to meet up with us..."

He paused.

"Or?" Sora pressed.

"Or she..." he continued, raising his shoulders helplessly, "Or she's insane – hell, I don't know!"

"God dammit!" she cussed, frustrated.

"What's your deal?" Tai asked incredulously, "Does she fucking owe you money? Why are you so pissed off about her _not_ being around? Isn't that like – the opposite of how it usually works?"

"Just – forget it, okay?" Sora said irritated shaking her head.

She sighed, before talking to Izzy again:

"What about Matt?"

"Detention." Izzy stated plainly, "He texted me, apparently he was being snarky to a teacher."

"He got detention for _that?_" Tai asked in disbelief, "_Who did he sass?_"

"Ms. Iino"

"Is_ he _insane?"

"Huh, that's exactly, what I asked him." TK said surprised, "Anyway, Joe isn't coming, either." he added toward Sora.

"Yeah. I figured" Sora said, puzzled, that he would bring him up, "Duh!"

"Chill, I thought you'd wanna know..." TK said annoyed.

"In any case, quick recap for you guys" Izzy said looking at Sora and Tai, "Sora, you are aware of the Agumon-situation, right?"

"Yes, Tai told me"

"Good"

"About a million times..." she added.

"Right" Izzy said irritated, because of the interruption, "So, as I was saying."

Izzy briefly retold the assault on the burrow.

"So this spiral" Yolei said, "Is it like a black ring for Ultimates?"

"That's..." Izzy said taken aback by her sharpness, "Probably it. The rings seem to corrupt Digivolution and they appear to be inefficient for Ultimates in general. So that's probably an update for them... in any event, to wrap this up: I sent in Brainiac over here" (he pointed at Davis), "So he could evolve Veemon, and help the others escape. And by sheer luck, we managed to pull it off"

"Hey!" Veemon said, "Cut me some slack man! My strategy was great. The trees slowed him down, as expected, and if he tried to fly and attack from above the tree tops, he wouldn't have hit us in a million years!"

"That might be true, but still: Running from your overpowered enemy is hardly a strategy."

"Wait a minute" Kari said, "So, Davis was removed from class because of you? Why didn't you have Mr. Nishijima pull me and TK out, too? We could have helped!"

"I couldn't. He barely agreed to try with Davis. That brings me to my counter question, though: Why didn't _you_ two _ever_ mention, that Davis was in the same class as you? Kind of an important detail, to gloss over, don't you think?!"

"Look man, he's been getting on our nerves in class for nearly four months, now." TK explained, "We were used to ignoring him, because – you know, 'never feed the troll' and shit."

"Hey!" Davis protested.

"Gotta admit, that is kind of a fitting description..." Izzy sighed, "Anyway, I feel like, it's pointless, explaining the stupidity of your reasoning here, so let me set down a new ground rule, instead: Unless we have reasons to suspect, there is a mole in our group, there is _no _good reason, to keep crucial information like this, from your team mates! On that note, has anyone else something that important, they kept to themselves for whatever reason?"

Davis raised his hand.

"Davis..." Izzy said threatening, "I swear, if you say, you forgot to tell us, you were in TK and Kari's class -"

"Uh, no!" Davis said quickly, "No, I have something else!"

"Go ahead..." Izzy said cautiously.

"I wanted to say, I have soccer practice the same day as Tai."

"We never had practice together!" Tai cut in.

"No, I meant, you use the court, the period before we do."

"That's what I thought..." Izzy said, face palming slowly, "Now then..."

He sat up straight again and cleared his throat.

"As for today's agenda: It's time to put a stop to this. Today is the day we free Agumon."

"Fucking finally..." Tai said rolling his eyes.

"And you know damn well, who's fault that is, Tai!" Izzy said, with a quick glare towards Yolei.

"I'm sorry..." she winced.

"That being said, this has been going on for too long, indeed. This latest incident has shown that. I didn't even mention the fact, that he used this strange data-absorbing maneuver, he used on SkullGreymon, on Garurumon and Kabuterimon as well."

"He didn't absorb any data, though." Tentomon said, "We weren't drained or anything... I don't know _what_ he did, though."

"What's important, is that he is definitely plotting something." Izzy pointed out, "And I am not willing to let him complete his goal, whatever it may be!"

He sternly looked at each of his team mates.

"This ends now! Not only are we going to get Agumon back" he added standing up from his chair, "Today, we will bring down the Emperor for good!"

"Ahem!"

Cody cleared his throat and crossed his arms.

"... Using none-lethal methods only." Izzy finished, sighing about the loss of momentum in his closing statement.

"Well, obviously!" Sora said, confused by this exchange, "Agumon is our friend. We don't wanna kill him!"

"No, that was for the Emperor, too."

"Oh... but why would we -?"

"Sora, trust me on this one" Gatomon stepped in, "You do not wanna go down that rabbit hole."

* * *

"Love, huh?" Sora said contemplative, after learning the true meaning of their crests – most of them, at least. The last thirty minutes they had spent traveling to the desert temple, where, according to Hawkmon, the egg of love was located. That time they had used, to bring Sora up to date, about the events of the past week.

"That's not too far off, I guess…" she continued, trailing off and looking absently at the towering walls of the narrow ravine, they were currently passing through.

"Consider yourself lucky…" Veemon mumbled, "At least with yours there is a connection. With the others, its like they deleted the original names and went 'I don't know, that guy's pretty lazy, let's give him sloth instead!'. So stupid…"

Izzy cleared his throat and said:

"I'm starting to suspect, the entity that sealed you away, Veemon, watched us for a while and figured it was too unlikely for us, to bring our positive attributes to the forefront. So, they decided to take the easy route instead."

"Eh, kinda makes sense to me" Tai shrugged, "I mean just look at Joe. I don't see him taking responsibility for any of us. Or him being honest… or sincere…"

"Face it" TK said, "each of us was kind of an asshole, in their own right. I don't think the old crests would have worked for any of us"

"Ahem"

"Okay, except for you, Izzy."

"But why wasn't mine changed then?" Kari asked.

"Maybe, because yours was lost" TK suggested.

"Really? A god couldn't do anything about that?"

"Well, I believe the separation could very well be responsible, somehow." Izzy argued, "Especially if it turns out Gennai was to blame for this, after all. But – if that's the case, I assume there wasn't much thought being put into that, anyway…"

"No" Kari said, "It doesn't make sense, there's gotta be another reason. You guys aren't _that_ bad!"

"Kari, if the nicest person on the planet tells you, that you are 'not that bad' chances are, you are still pretty bad" Izzy said.

"But wait" Veemon said to Sora, "So, your bullshit-crest is lust, right? How did you activate it?"

"I… uh…"

"She made out with Tai for like a minute" Izzy said dismissively.

"It was just one kiss!" Sora said defiantly.

"Yeah and that didn't work…" Tai said, staring ahead, "So, you kissed me again… and again… it was _really_ awkward… and weird…"

"Wouldn't have been _that _weird, if you would have returned even one of them!" Sora hissed, now staring ahead, too, with her eyes narrowed.

"_No_, that would have made it_ super weird!_" Tai countered, "Also, it took me like a year, to convince Agumon, we weren't a thing - even like that! He probably still wouldn't believe me, if I wasn't completely weirded out by that!"

"Hang on" Veemon said, "How old were you?"

"Eleven" Tai and Sora said.

"Gross…"

"Psst! Kari!" someone whispered.

The brunette girl looked behind. It was Davis. Lagging a bit behind, he waved her over to himself. She looked ahead again, rolling her eyes, but then slowed down, until she was walking next to him.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"Uh, you know…" he stammered, "I was just wondering – uh, if maybe this weekend we could like… watch a movie together. You know in the theater and stuff, there's this -"

But Kari cut him short:

"Davis, my brother is right in front of us. I don't know if you have any idea how protective he is of me, but trust me: you don't wanna find out the hard way."

"But -"

"Last time a boy from our school asked me out, my brother found out about it, and after that, the guy didn't show up for two weeks. I don't know what happened exactly, but when he was back again, he looked like he hadn't slept once, while he was gone. You better think twice about this."

"Oh, come on!" Davis said still confident "You didn't even hear me out!"

"Davis -"

"Look, I thought we could watch that new 'Star Wars' movie. I heard it's pretty romantic, too."

"That movie sucks!" TK shouted over his shoulder.

"_Shut up!_" Davis hissed.

"Hey!" Tai said suspiciously, now looking back, too, "What are you two talking about, back there?"

"Nothing!" Davis said quickly, turning pale and walking a bit away from Kari, who sighed and quickened her pace again to rejoin the rest of the group.

"Ooh, busted!" Armadillomon said teasing (her and Cody were in the back, too).

"Shut up, Armadillomon…" Davis mumbled.

"Alright people, heads in the game, you're nearly there." Izzy said, "Once you exit the ravine into the valley, turn to your left. It's literally right around the corner."

"Finally!" Tai groaned.

They entered the desert valley, Izzy was talking about. They made their way toward the temple, through a number of large rocks, scattered across the sand. They were only able to see its entrance clearly once they closed in on it, since it was embedded into the cliff side; it consisted of four enormous round columns, two on each side of a tall gate, leading in. There were two surveillance cameras placed on the two inner columns.

"Izzy, was it really necessary, to take the scenic route?" Tai complained, "I mean, there's cameras here, too. So, he could see us here."

"True, but it would be odd, if you spent enough time in there, so he could catch up to you, if he spotted you here." Izzy argued, "So these are irrelevant. For now, at least."

"Ugh, sure…" Tai moaned, as they entered the temple.

The room in front of them was perfectly cubic in its shape. Seven columns were embedded into its walls, each of them having one of the crests engraved into their pedestals. The egg of love rested on a block in the center of the chamber, with that very crest inscribed into it. The egg itself was silver and was shaped like a short bullet, the crest of love engraved into it upside down, aligning with the peaked dome shape of its top. Its bottom rim was reminiscent of saw teeth and there were two ax blades on its sides.

The egg emitted what looked and behaved like hundreds of fireflies, at first glance, but upon closer inspection they were just small orbs of light. They lit up the room, flying around, seemingly aimless. However, most of them seemed to be attracted to the crests, gathering in their grooves, making it seem like they were glowing on their own.

"Look Sora, it's our crest!" Biyomon called out excited.

"Yeah, funny how that worked out." Sora agreed with a soft chuckle and gave her partner, who she was carrying in her arms a quick squeeze; apparently the long absence of their partner, had made both of them extra cuddly.

Veemon shot the bubbly exchange an annoyed glance and even Hawkmon glared at them for a moment, before rolling his eyes and mumbling very quietly:

"Whatever…"

"Did you say something?" Yolei asked him.

"Err -" he said clearing his throat, "Uh, no. No, nothing… really"

Yolei went to say something when suddenly a giant wall of stone, lowered from the top of the entrance, closing it and blocking their way out.

"Hey, what the hell?!" Tai shouted.

"Thank me later" Izzy said calm.

"Huh? Why?"

"_Attention, maggots!_" a voice from outside the temple announced loudly.

"That's why, Tai"

"Open this gate, step outside, hands in the air and admit your defeat. Maybe I'll spare you. Come on now! I want you to meet my new partner!"

"God, I wanna kill him!" Tai said angry.

"Well, fucking great!" TK moaned.

"Should I grab the egg now, Izzy-Senpai?"

"Everybody relax!" Izzy exclaimed, "We have a plan, remember?"

"Yeah well, I thought we had like a minute more or something!" TK explained.

"It will work out" Izzy said, "I've taken this into account. Gatomon, Veemon, get to work."

"It was on the left, right?" Gatomon asked.

"Final warning!" the Emperor shouted.

"Yes, back the direction you came from. Remember, three feet deep, should do the trick. After that, I can take care of the rest. Tai, I'll open the gate and you walk out there."

"There's _no way_, I'm gonna walk out there by myself!"

"Tai, you know -"

The stone gate exploded. The group had to retread deeper into the room in order not to get hit by the debris.

"Well, there goes one of our cameras" Izzy said dry.

"Soooo…" Tai said awkwardly, "Since you can't open the gate anymore, you still want me to go out there?"

* * *

"Should I shoot again?", MetalGreymon said with his deep, growling voice.

"Nah, let's not rush it." the Emperor said grinning, "I wanna enjoy this…"

Suddenly a silhouette appeared in the dust cloud of the destroyed gate. A slim figure with its hair's shape reminiscent of a bird's nest.

"Take a look at that…" the raven haired boy mumbled, "Well, well, well! What do we have here?" he added as Tai stepped out of the cloud, "I assume, there's no need for introductions, eh?"

"Yeah, just so you know, the only one, this idiot was ever loyal to, is me. Better go running back to your shitty Airdramon, Airdramon-bitch!"

The Emperor glared at him.

"MetalGreymon" he said cold, "I want you to point every single one of your weapons at that guy down there."

"Ha!" Tai said pointing at the Emperor, "Joke's on you! He doesn't have that many- whoa-okay, I stand corrected. That is really intimidating…"

"Actually, I wanna give you a chance" the Emperor said, "I'm a fair man."

"Dude, you look like you're ten."

"Whatever!" the younger boy barked, "I wouldn't waste my chance, if I were you. Now, do you wanna live to see your friends die? Or do you want us, to kill you first?"

"Pff, I'd love to see you try -"

"Fire!"

A barrage of missiles rained down on Tai, engulfing him in flames and smoke.

"More!" the Emperor demanded, "_More_ – actually you know what, stop. I think we got him."

Silence fell upon the valley, as the echoes of the explosions faded in the distance. The ground where the missiles hit was blackened and a massive column of smoke rose into the blue sky, from the spot where Tai used to stand.

"Yeah he is dead" the Emperor concluded dead panned.

"Think again!" a voice from within the smoke called out.

"_What?!_"

The cloud slowly cleared, revealing that Tai was still standing. Smirking, he brushed some dirt off his shoulder.

"Tai, cut the one-liners" Izzy said in his ear, "That's not part of the plan!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Tai whispered.

"What – HOW?!" the Emperor yelled, "_How are you still standing?! _That should have vaporized you!"

"Well, it probably would've helped if your new partner could hit anything more than a few inches away."

MetalGreymon growled.

"Seriously, there was this one time, when Gatomon was still our enemy: He tried hitting her, but nearly killed my sister instead – who was standing like ten feet away from her."

"Oh, don't even start with that!" MetalGreymon said threatening.

"Oh yeah, and he was like ten feet away himself"

"That does it!"

"Hold it." the Emperor said dismissively, "Something's wrong here and I wanna know what it is, before we waste any more of your energy."

"Tai, you're supposed to try and sway MetalGreymon to our side, not taunt him!" Izzy intervened, "Didn't you have a great plan to turn him? How about acting it out?"

"Right, my plan!" Tai said under his breath, "All jokes aside though, it probably didn't work because of OUR FRIENDSHIP!"

The Emperor and MetalGreymon stared at him.

"What?" they asked.

"_Our friendship!_" he repeated, "Remember _our friendship, _MetalGreymon?"

The Emperor sighed.

"I'm just gonna cut this short" he said face palming, "No, he doesn't. See that spiral on his arm? That's my newest invention. Designed to make Ultimates bow to my will, without fail! Thanks to the Evil Spiral, you're old friend is gone! Replaced with a -"

"Really, asshole?" Tai interrupted him, raising an eyebrow, "_Evil Spiral? _That's the best name, you came up with?"

"_You cannot hope to beat its glory!_" the Emperor shouted quickly.

Tai cautiously looked up at MetalGreymon's face.

"_Buddy?_" he asked hopefully.

The dinosaur looked back at him, stone faced.

"Well, shit..." Tai cussed, "That played out better in my head..."

"Congrats, Tai." Izzy said disillusioned, "A new low."

"Come on, man!" Tai hissed, "I was improvising!"

"You had a plan! You even said so, just now!"

"Hey, up yours! You really put my on the spot here!"

"You know what, Tai? Your plans suck and it's a good thing you're not the leader anymore, because, guess what: you shouldn't be."

"Fuck you!"

"Wait, who are you talking to?" the Emperor asked, "You know what, screw this! Let me down, I'll deal with him myself! Keep your eyes out for the others!" he commanded MetalGreymon before climbed down his back and jumping off his metal arm.

"Now then..." he said taking a black whip off his belt, "You asked for it."

"Bring it, asshole!"

He ran towards Tai and swung the whip. The whip made contact – and passed right through him.

"_What!? _How did -?"

He slowly put his hand forward – right through Tai's chest.

He jumped backwards.

"What –? No!"

"See you 'round, cunt." Tai said grim, "Uh, Izzy you can stop the -"

He vanished.

"_NO!_" the Emperor yelled. He immediately ran back to MetalGreymon and climbed onto his back.

"Destroy the temple!" he ordered, "Now!"

But it was too late: A shooting star came in from the left and hit MetalGreymon in the eye. The dinosaur roared in pain and stumbled to the side.

"Watch out!" the Emperor yelled when he saw the flashing of a silver colored dagger; Frogmon jumped them from behind a rock the other side, aiming for the arm with the black spiral. MetalGreymon turned to face her. He shot off his metal arm, hitting her in mid air. She managed to hold on to its claws, so they wouldn't stab her. It was about to shove her into the ground, when a powerful punch hit the dinosaur in the right arm. Hastily, he reattached his arm, turning to slash at Gatomon, who had nearly hit the spiral – but a blue flash of lightning later, the metal claw was covered in large ice crystals and so it crashed into the ground instead.

"_You..._" the Emperor hissed upon recognizing Raidramon, but then he looked around at the four attackers coming at them, "Wait, there was more of them! Where -?"

"Booya!" a female voice shouted from the top the cliff above the temples entrance which was now behind and to the right of them.

The boy spun around and looked up; A red griffin rushed at them. They had the front legs of a lion and the hind legs of an enormous bird. Their shoulders were draped by what looked like Hawkmon's wings. The creature wore a metal helmet which looked exactly like the egg of love, but elongated and with its blades extended into the shape of wings. Yolei was sitting on his back, shouting triumphantly as she rode him into battle.

The griffin's blades lit up briefly, before releasing a crescent-shaped shock wave towards the Ultimate. The impact shoved him away from the temple. Immediately the griffin followed up his attack, by diving toward him head first, and headbutting him.

"Good job, Halsemon!" she cheered, as the dinosaur stumbled.

"You're welcome!" Halsemon replied.

However, while stumbling forward, MetalGreymon, managed to raise his metal arm while he did so and slammed it into the ground, both catching himself from falling and shattering the ice in the process.

Now the attackers formed a rough half circle around him, keeping him away from the temple. Frogmon leaped toward him and at the same time, Pegasusmon fired another shooting star at him. MetalGreymon managed to dodge the Pegasus' attack, while turning towards Frogmon simultaneously; he opened up his chest plate and fired a rocket from the barrel on the left side. He yanked his torso around to the right and fired another missile, this time from his right chest part, in the direction of Raidramon, who had deliberately kept his distance, and was now preparing to fire more lightning at his enemy. The Emperor was holding on to his back for dear life, at this point.

Frogmon dealt with the rocket, heading her way, rather well, throwing a shuriken at it and causing it to explode before it reached her. Still, the shock wave was enough to throw her back. Raidramon on the other hand was less lucky; while he too, managed not to get hit directly, the explosion was much closer to him, hurling him through the air. Unfortunately he devolved to Veemon, too. Cursing he hit the sand.

"Fuck! Rookie, hurry up!"

"Uh, on it!" Davis said nervously, emerging from his hiding spot, on top of the cliff at the end of the valley, opposing the temple. Next to him, there was a short ravine below, broader than the one they came from but still too narrow, for someone as big as MetalGreymon to navigate properly inside.

"Digi-ener – god dammit! Gimme a sec!"

"Come on, idiot!" Veemon screamed frantically, "Not now! Hurry!"

"Shit, calm down! You're stressing me out!"

"_What the fuck is going on?_" the Emperor shouted confused, "_How the FUCK did you get out of there?!_"

Gatomon jumped onto MetalGreymon's shoulder, trying to crawl over to the arm with the black spiral, but the Ultimate shook her off rather easily. He threw her behind himself and fired his metal claw after her. She was hit and got caught up in between two of the individual claws. Suddenly, Frogmon jumped in from the side, kicking the piece of metal away and freeing her again.

MetalGreymon turned around facing his opponent's again, his back now turned to the ravine. The Digimon spread out again, now forming a line, parallel to the cliff's edge, in front of the entrance to the canyon. Halsemon had flown over to the side of the battlefield, taking cover behind a rock.

"Stay here!" he told Yolei, who nodded and climbed off his back.

It seemed to be a good decision, because MetalGreymon now opened fire again, shooting missile after missile at his foes. What followed was chaos; explosions went off everywhere, creating an enormous cloud of dust and smoke. At one point a glowing orb shot out of it, quickly taking on the shape of Patamon. Unconscious, TK's partner was flung through the air away from the ravine and into the sandy valley.

When no one was approaching him anymore, MetalGreymon stopped and waited for noises or movement from within the cloud.

What he couldn't see, was what was going on _behind_ the cloud: Halsemon and Gatomon were together, front and center, while Frogmon was off to the left side.

"Guys" Izzy said, "I need you to do exactly as I say, now."

Just a moment later, MetalGreymon got what he was waiting for:

"On my mark!" Frogmon yelled and the dinosaur turned his head to his right, immediately firing a rocket at her. That was his mistake; apparently Frogmon had hurried over to her team mates and all three of them now attacked him head on.

Frogmon tackled him, Gatomon struck him in the chest with a lightning-paw and Halsemon shot another powerful blade of wind after him. All of that still wasn't enough to drive him into the canyon.

However, it didn't take long for that to change, as a flaming fist emerged from the dust, mere seconds later hitting the Ultimate in the face. Flamedramon's punch send MetalGreymon tumbling into the ravine. The Emperor finally lost his grip and fell off MetalGreymon's back. He quickly got up and ran deeper into the canyon, while MetalGreymon kept stumbling further in, behind him.

He turned around and pointed his D3 at his so-called partner after recognizing how bemused the latter looked.

Meanwhile Halsemon and Frogmon had made there way up to the edges of the ravine, on either side of MetalGreymon, while Gatomon and Flamedramon remained in front of the Ultimate, blocking his way out. They effectively surrounded him.

"_Dirty, stupid Jews!_" the boy spat, "You think _this_ will be enough to take down _my_ partner?"

His D3 started to glow and so did the spiral. MetalGreymon stood up right again, growling threateningly.

"I think this is as good as a time as any" Izzy said suddenly, "Tai, how about, you relay my message, to our dear Emperor?"

"Yo, asshole!"

The Emperor looked past MetalGreymon and the other two Digimon; Three kids stood at the ravine's entrance, Sora, with her partner Biyomon standing next to her, Tai, having a mischievous grin on his lips, and Yolei carrying an unconscious Patamon.

"Wanna know how we got out of that temple?"

"Not particularly in the middle of a standoff" the Emperor replied facetiously, "But I suppose after I killed most of you, I _might_ be a tad curious."

"Yeah, you know what? I'm gonna tell you anyways: You see, we used a little trick and made ourselves a nice tunnel."

"What are you saying?" the Emperor asked bewildered, "You couldn't have dug a tunnel through all that massive rock that fast! Are you implying you just – _deleted_ the rock to make a tunnel?"

"I'm glad you asked" Tai smirked, "But I never, uh – _implied_ anything about deleting shit." He added, looking up.

The Emperor followed his gaze – and gasped once he saw, what Tai was looking at. An enormous strip of rock, hovered above MetalGreymon's head, undoubtedly from what Izzy had removed to make a tunnel. It was floating at a steep angle, so it was primarily above MetalGreymon.

"No!" the Emperor yelled, but it was too late: the strip started breaking apart and in large chunks it rained down onto the Ultimate. Since they weren't too high above MetalGreymon, they didn't gain enough speed on their way down, to seriously injure him. However, they were heavy enough to knock him to the floor and, at least some of them, remained on top of him pinning him to the ground.

Meanwhile the Emperor ran further to the back end of the ravine, so he wouldn't get hit by any falling rocks. Over him, at the edge of the ravine's side, was Kari. She watched him and decided to walk after him (since she couldn't run) and keep an eye on him. The walls of the ravine dropped away at its back, so there was a chance he could climb up the slopes to the side and slip away. After all, that was how they got onto the cliffs themselves.

Once MetalGreymon was down, Gatomon immediately took her chance, rushing over to the arm with black spiral, Flamedramon following closely behind. But surprisingly the dinosaur started to move again; he swept his metal arm over the ground, too fast for either of them to react. He smacked Gatomon into the wall to their right, knocking her out, and send Flamedramon straight up flying out of the canyon.

"Oh, come on!" he yelled, but thankfully he landed not too far away from the canyons entrance.

Now MetalGreymon slowly forced himself up again, somehow managing to get the heavy chunks of rock off his back.

"MetalGreymon!" Sora shouted.

Now freed from the weight on his back, MetalGreymon stopped, to look why she talked to him directly. He paused surprised to see, what was happening in front of him:

Sora was standing next to Tai – holding his hand.

"_What are you doing?_" Tai whispered.

"What do you think? I'm improvising!" Sora hissed back, her lips barely moving.

Then she addressed MetalGreymon again:

"You always said, we would make a great couple, didn't you? Guess what, you got what you always wanted. We're a couple, now."

She gave Tai's hand a quick and forceful squeeze.

"Uh, yeah!" Tai said nervously, understanding her hint, "We're totally dating, now! Didn't wanna admit it at first, but it turns out you were right all along, buddy."

MetalGreymon stared at them.

"Prove it." he demanded, growling.

"_Um..._" Tai said wide-eyed, turning pale.

Suddenly Flamedramon jumped down from the canyon's left wall, landing a flaming punch directly on the black spiral.

"Oh, thank god!" Tai sighed incredibly relieved.

"Yeah! _Thank god!_" Sora growled, through gritted teeth, ripping her hand away from his.

Flamedramon's attack didn't destroy the spiral, but it seemed to damage it; tiny black splinters flew away from the point of impact. MetalGreymon slammed into the opposing wall.

Halsemon now took off from the cliff side flying a quick circle, to gain speed and than headbutted directly into the damaged spiral shattering it completely. However, coordination apparently wasn't at its peek yet, since Frogmon had leaped off her side of the canyon, simultaneously to Halsemon's approach. She landed on a chunk of rock, and pushed herself off towards MetalGreymon, tackling into him, just after Halsemon had destroyed the spiral. The Ultimate fell over backwards and hit the ground, starting to glow and devolve.

"He's on our side, now!" Halsemon protested.

"_Sorry!_ I didn't know you destroyed the thing!"

"Is that why you aimed for his belly, then?"

"Get off my back!"

MetalGreymon shrunk down to a tiny ball, not bigger than Upamon. As the glow faded, they could see how he had become a pink ball, with slim rabbit like ears. Unconscious he lay on the floor.

"Koromon!" Kari said, recognizing Agumon's in-training form.

The Emperor, who was the closest to Koromon at this point, chuckled briefly, before walking over to him to pick him up.

But before he could reach him, he was thrown to the ground: Kari had jumped on top of him, tackling him to the floor, in order to keep him away from her friend.

"Get – _off!_" the boy barked and after a short struggle, he overpowered her, throwing her off of himself. She rolled away and hastily got back up on her feet, limping over to Koromon and picking him up.

"_You are NOT taking him again!_" she screamed furiously, holding Koromon closely to her chest, while staring the Emperor down.

"Geez... You guys are taking this _way_ too seriously..." the Emperor mumbled shaking his head, but then he looked past her and saw that the rest of the team had almost caught up. He turned and ran for the end of the canyon – only to realize that it was located at the edge of a tall cliff, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. He turned to the right, but there were TK and Davis, already blocking his way. He glanced the other way and saw Cody standing there. Turning to face the rest of them he realized, they had all caught up to him. He was surrounded. He looked over his shoulder, down the cliff.

"Huh, that's convenient..." he said calm.

"Convenient for _you, _dickhead!" Davis called out, pointing at him.

"Davis" TK sighed impatiently, "_In_convenient means, that it's bad for him! He probably misspoke!"

"No, he's right" the Emperor said smirking, "It _is _convenient for me"

"Guys careful!" Izzy stepped in, "He just did something with his D3"

The Emperor put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. The others jumped and started looking out for incoming enemies.

"Ha ha!" he laughed, "That alone was worth it!"

He turned sideways and jumped of the cliff.

"_Oh, my gosh!_" Yolei gasped.

But then they saw the Emperor's Airdramon fly away from the cliff, carrying his master on his back. The boy looked over his shoulder, calling out to them on more time:

"Adieu, dirty little Jews!"

* * *

Back in the lab TK stared at Izzy in disbelief, after hearing the latter's opinion on the mission.

"What?" the red head asked, mildly annoyed.

"Dude, you're way too positive about this." TK said, still taken aback, "I expected you to yell at us for letting that prick escape. This is just - _weird_, man..."

"Well, I got it out of my system earlier..."

Previously, Izzy had rigged a building in the industrial area to blow, which he had originally planned to detonate upon the teams eventual return, to clear the area. Upon witnessing the Emperor's escape, though, Izzy had made the split second decision, that a vent for his frustration was a more pressing concern. Fortunately (for Izzy at least), there was a large number of casualties in the area, due to the collapse, so the images of destruction were satisfactory _and_ somewhat productive for them.

"The only downside is, we have one less strategy for the industrial area in the future... Anyway, to be honest I was never _completely _convinced we would ki-_apture_ him, today. I only said that, to boost your morale. And I gotta admit the way he used that cliff for a quick getaway, caught me off guard, as much as you. Uh, well – maybe not – _as_ much, but eh, you get the idea."

"You think, Koromon is gonna be okay, Izzy?" Kari asked worried, looking at the still unconscious in-training, now resting in Tai's lap.

"I highly doubt, there's anything like coma for Digimon" Izzy said, "He'll be fine. But that's the point, I was going for: He was our main objective. So, in my book, this mission was still a success. And let me tell you, from the bottom of my heart: I am _so_ glad to see, that we can _actually_ accomplish something, if everybody knows their god damn role and sticks to it. Even if it still took hours of prep work... That said, I'd rather find out what he is plotting, by interrogating him, once we caught him. As opposed to – you know, see his plan to come to fruition. So, let's bring him down as soon as possible!"

And with that, Izzy dissolved the meeting. Since they didn't have a safe place for the Digimon to stay in the Digital World anymore, Sora took Biyomon home with her – earning her a snarky remark by Tai, that she was definitely going to be grounded, because of that (she stormed out, without even looking back at him).

On the way to the door, TK stopped Yolei.

"Hey, uh..." he said awkwardly, "Thanks for going back to get Patamon in the desert."

"Oh, um..." Yolei said nervously, "Sure thing..."

"You okay, buddy?" TK said looking down at Patamon, who he carried.

"Yup!" Patamon said cheerful, "Never better!"

He looked back up and saw that Yolei was still looking at him – and quite intensely, too.

"So..." he said, somewhat uneasy, "I guess we're... even?"

"Oh, thank _god!_" she exclaimed relieved.

"Yeah, but you know what?" he told her, when they left the room, "Next time I'm about to spoil something to you – just run, okay?"

"Yeah, I get it... But wait, you're not gonna do that to me again, are you?" she said with a nervous laugh and when he didn't reply she added anxiously:

"_Are you?_"

"We'll see..."

The group slowly exited the lab, until Tai, Kari and Izzy were the only ones left, with the remaining Digimon.

"Just so you know, Matt will be here, shortly" Izzy informed them, "He's gonna take Gabumon home with him and from the looks of it we just outvoted him, on whether he should also take Palmon with him, or not. You know, since his Dad is the most relaxed about our Digimon. So, I'm not too sure, if you wanna stick around, to see how he takes those news... especially you, Tai..."

"You're right!" Tai said grinning from ear to ear, "I'm _really_ on the fence about that!"

"Well, I've had enough fighting for today." Kari announced, "No need to see you two at each others throats. I'm going home."

"Eh, fine..." Tai sighed, rolling his eyes, before following her to the door.

They said goodbye to Izzy and made their way down the hallway. Half way to the school's entrance, Tai put his arm around her shoulders. Surprised, she look at him and he said:

"Good job today, sis. You did it. You saved him."

She looked at the floor.

"No..." she said quietly, "I wish, I did, but... it was all of us, together..."

"Are you kidding?" Tai said, now stopping, putting his hands on her shoulders and holding her at arms length, while looking sternly into her eyes, "You tackled down that asshole, so he couldn't kidnap Koromon again!"

"Even if he got him, that wouldn't have changed much" Kari insisted, "We had him cornered!"

"Yeah, we saw how well that worked out!" Tai scoffed, "He would have taken Koromon with him, when he escaped!"

"I..."

"Face it, Kari" Gatomon chimed in, smirking, "You kinda saved the day"

Kari's face lit up. She looked up at her brother, who smiled back at her.

"I knew, you'd have my back, sis" he said.

She hugged him.

"Thank you, Tai" she whispered.

"Hey, I'm thanking _you_ here" he said grumpy, as they walked on, "I swear, even when people owe you, you act like you owe _them_..."

"No, I don't" Kari muttered, wiping her eyes.

"Sis, on my last birthday, when I got excited about the gift you bought me, you teared up and thanked me, for loving it! You do that _way_ too often!"

Kari laughed and they exited the building.


	9. Fraud for Beginners

-x-

**Chapter Nine**

**Fraud for Beginners**

Wake up!"

Davis stirred in his sleep.

"I said, wake up!"

"Lemme sleep…" he mumbled groggy.

"Get the fuck up, idiot!"

"Go away DemiVeemon…"

"What did you just call me?"

Davis' eyes shot open. He looked up, to see who was standing over him. It was a tall girl, somewhat resembling him, with spiky hair in the same reddish brown color, as his own.

"Oh! Hey sis!" he said surprised, sitting up.

"What are you doing?" his sister asked bewildered.

"Uh… sleeping?"

"Well, duh!" she said annoyed, "I _meant_, why are you sleeping on the couch, moron!"

Davis had been kicked out of his room by DemiVeemon and had thus decided, to spend the night on the sofa in the living room. Since Davis' parents were gone for the night, DemiVeemon had figured no one would notice if Davis slept on the couch – but didn't take into his partners sister.

"I, uh… fell asleep watching TV" Davis lied.

His sister looked over her shoulder.

"It's turned off" she said eyes narrowed, "_I_ didn't turn it off…"

"Um… I guess, I did… then…"

"Then you went back into your room, grabbed a pillow and blanket and came back here?"

"Yes! – wait…"

"Don't you even _try_ to bullshit me!" she said sternly, "You spilled something on your bed again, didn't you?"

"No – _I mean,_ yes!" he said hastily.

She stared him down eyes squinted.

"You're acting weird…" she said, "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"Yeah" he nodded, "That I spilled something on my bed!"

"Except you just told me, dumbass" she pointed out, "… _twice_"

"Oh, uh… guess you caught me, then" he said with a hopeful smile.

His sister let a long sigh.

"Do I even _wanna_ know?" she asked walking over to his room.

Davis immediately jumped over the backrest of the sofa to get there first but she already had her hand on the door handle.

"No!" he said quickly putting his hand on hers to stop her, "You _definitely_ don't wanna know!"

"_Hands. Off._" she hissed, and Davis let go immediately as if he had burned himself, "Also, now I _need_ to know! I'm supposed to look after you, so, whatever you pulled off this time, Mom and Dad are gonna blame me for sure!" she added and opened the door.

"No!" Davis gasped, but it was to late; she slammed the door open and was immediately greeted by a grumpy DemiVeemon, waking from his slumber in Davis' bed:

"_What? _Fuck off! I'm trying to sleep – oh…"

He sat up and spotted Davis' sister.

"I thought you said no one was home, Brainiac!?" the Digimon said angry.

"Uh, to be fair, after dinner she basically never leaves her room…" Davis said, while his sister stared at DemiVeemon, her mouth gaping open, "So… I… kinda forgot she was there, too…"

"What the _hell_ is that!?" she shrieked spinning around to face her younger brother again.

"He's - uh… a friend of mine?" he said raising his shoulders, helplessly.

She kept staring at him in disbelief.

"Gotta be real, that would have been my last fucking guess…" she said wide eyed.

"Yeah, it's kind of a secret, so…"

"You think, I'm gonna keep a _fucking alien_ in your room a secret?"

"I hoped, you'd be more cooperative!" DemiVeemon said, jumping on her shoulder.

He had snuck up behind her and now he proceeded to put one hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, while pointing a pocket knife, he had found in Davis' room, at her throat.

"Now, don't move a fucking muscle, you hear me?" DemiVeemon growled low, slightly increasing the pressure with which he put against her skin.

She nodded quickly, shaking like she was being electrocuted.

"DemiVeemon - "

"Shut it, Brainiac!" the Digimon barked, "Should have thought about her, when I asked you whether someone else was here or not, shouldn't you?"

Davis looked at his sister, apologetic, however she kept watching DemiVeemon from the corner of her eye, an expression of terror on her face.

"Now then, little Miss - uh…" DemiVeemon continued, questioningly looking at Davis who replied:

"Sunshine?"

Both DemiVeemon and his sister groaned in unison, causing DemiVeemon, to let go of her mouth, to hear what she had to say.

"He means my name, you moron!"

"Oh, right!" Davis said, finally getting it, "Jun! Her name's Jun!"

"Jun, huh?" DemiVeemon said contemplating, "You know, I kinda like her. Would be a shame, if we had to get rid of her…" he added grim.

"Please, don't kill my sister" Davis sighed frowning.

"_Oh god, please don't!_" Jun begged.

"Relax!" DemiVeemon insisted, "As long as you don't cause any trouble for us, we wont have to do anything to you."

"I wont tell anyone! _I swear!_"

"Good girl" DemiVeemon said smirking, removing the blade from her neck, "That's what I like to hear. Let's talk terms, then…"

"Terms?" Jun asked.

"Just to make sure, we're all on the same page here..."

* * *

Upamon had a tough time holding still, as she peaked out of Cody's bag, watching his Kendo-match against his grandfather, Chikara. Whenever the boy delivered a good attack, she held back a squeal of excitement. However, although she was rooting for Cody, she mostly just enjoyed herself, following the back and forth.

Cody on the other hand was way more tense. Processing the events of the past week, he slowly found his anger toward the Emperor building inside. And other things, too...

He managed to perform five especially quick strikes, slowly driving his grandfather backwards, before the latter stopped him:

"Okay, Cody, maybe we should take a little break." Chikara said with a sad smile, after blocking his final strike.

"Huh?" Cody asked, "Why? We just started!"

"Because you fight, like I do, after I lost an important game." the old man said dry, "What's on your mind?" he added when they sat down on a bench at the wall.

When Cody took off his protective mask, Chikara did the same; he was a bald man in his sixties, with an impressive gray mustache and, equally gray, bushy eyebrows.

"It's... nothing..." Cody muttered.

"Heard that before" Chikara said unimpressed, "Come on, out with it!"

"I..."

Cody hesitated.

"I don't know how to explain."

"Give it shot" Chikara said calmly, "I'm sure I can figure it out. Believe it or not, I'm quite perceptive." he added with a soft chuckle.

"It's - uh... about school" Cody claimed, "I'm working on a project with some... friends" (for some reason the word 'friends' wasn't the first that came to mind), "It's kind of long term... It feels like, everyone is contributing so much. But I don't... I barely do anything, you know?"

He thought about Yolei saving Patamon in the desert, TK holding his own against a Digimon in a fist fight, Davis saving the Digimon from the burrow, Kari saving Koromon from the Emperor, earlier that very day. But him?

"What's your project about?"

"Um..." Cody stalled, unsure of how to answer this, "Uh, helping people... I guess..."

"So you are still in the early stages, then, I take it?"

"Um..." Cody said surprised about this assumption.

"Well, because obviously that type of project sounds like it's right up your alley." Chikara explained, "I can't picture you not being very involved in that."

"Yes, but it feels like I'm... compared to everyone else I feel so... useless!"

"_Aw..._" Upamon said quietly – yet still loud enough to be picked up by Cody's grandfather:

"What the heck was that?"

"My – stomach... rumbled" Cody said blushing and praying to god his grandfather would assume, it was due to him being bashful about it.

"You sure?" Chikara said looking around, "Sounded more like it was coming from back there" he added gesturing over to the general direction Cody's bag was located in.

"Nope!" Cody said quickly, "Definitely my stomach!"

"Ah, I see..." Chikara said contemplating, "You know, I told you to eat a little more when we had lunch. You're supposed to be hungry _after_ our session, not before we even started!"

He laughed and gave Cody a little jab in the side with his elbow. The boy cracked a small smile.

"Anyway, where was I?" Chikara asked.

"Um – _I_ was... talking..."

"Ha! That was a trick question! I wanted to see whether you'd let me take over the conversation again – as usual. Or at least when you bottle things up again. If you want my two cents for now, the last thing that comes to my mind when I think about you is uselessness."

"But I don't have any talents!"

"Nonsense! Just look at your Kendo skills. Their improving everyday!"

"I'm still a joke compared to you..."

"Well, maybe... but - !" he added hastily when he saw Cody's gaze drop to the floor, in defeat, "You have about four years of experience and I have roughly forty. You're nine years old and I'm -"

"Sixty-three..." Cody said dead panned, apparently so focused on ways to downplay his own abilities, that he didn't think of the implications in that statement.

"What's that supposed to mean?" his grandfather said raising a bushy eyebrow.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I – I didn't mean it like that!"

Chikara laughed.

"I'm only messing around! But seriously, I'll have you know, that I am still as vital as I have been in my youth! As evidenced by my sweeping victory against you, last week."

"How is victory against a nine-year-old, evidence for that?" Cody asked, now raising an eyebrow himself.

"Ah! See now you're grasping the concept!"

"Huh?"

"It's all a matter of perspective. Listen, Cody." Chikara said and turned to face him directly, "You have so many good qualities, so all that doubt is complete nonsense!"

"Yeah, right... a thousand Yen, you couldn't even come up with five..."

"Ha! I don't have to uh - _come up_ with any, because I _know _you have more than that in you. So, drop it already, will ya?"

"But -"

"When I look at you, I see that same spark in your eyes, that your father once had."

Cody fell silent and looked at the floor again.

"A passion for justice. A desire to help others and to put them before yourself. A need to make the world a better place! If that isn't admirable, I don't know what is!"

"Thanks..." Cody whispered.

He sighed heavily.

"But you deflected the question: Can you even name four other qualities, I have?"

"Well, it depends" Chikara said with a hint of a smirk, "Do you _have_ one thousand Yen?"

"Huh?"

"Just kidding" Chikara chuckled "Well, for starters, you're extremely conscientious; you take all of your duties seriously, and you rarely fail to fulfill them. Honesty is a big one for you, too"

"I'm not honest..."

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course you are! Yes, you lied before, but who hasn't? That doesn't make you dishonest! Plus all the lies, I heard out of your mouth, were white lies, anyway. If you ask me, there's two things that matter in regards to honesty: Intention and outcome! Remember that."

Cody paused, unsure what exactly he meant.

"Let's see what else... Kindness comes to mind. And _yes_, I know, it sounds cliché as heck, but I am convinced you have a pure heart – bottled up, somewhere"

"What about sincerity?"

"Huh, that one's... oddly specific – but yeah." Chikara shrugged, "Sincerity! Never seen you as a pretender. Would you look at that! We even got six! You even figured out that last one by yourself!"

"_Wow_" Upamon whispered amazed.

"Did you say something?" Chikara asked.

"Yeah! Um... _wow _that was a good lesson"

"Ha ha!" Chikara said standing up again, "Good to see, I can still inspire awe in someone! Guess my glory days aren't over, yet! What do you say, ready for another round?"

"Sure" Cody said and stood up as well.

"Oh, and about those one thousand Yen, you owe me" his grandfather said suddenly, "Ah, you know what, I'll get back to you, next time, I head out to the casino!"

This actually made Cody laugh.

About an hour later Cody was lying down on his bed, throwing a ball into the air and catching over and over, in order to keep himself (but mostly Upamon) occupied, while thinking about what he discussed with his grandfather, earlier.

"I still think you should be throwing me, instead of that ball..." Upamon said with a slight pout – yet, still following every movement of the ball with her eyes, "More fun for both of us"

"And _I _still think, the entire house would hear you, constantly going 'Wee! Wee!', if I did that."

"Buzzkill..."

He paused his throwing-routine.

"Hey... Upamon?"

"Yeah?"

He rolled on his side to face her.

"You think, my grandfather is right? About me, I mean."

"Oh, sure!" she said excited, "He is the coolest! By the way, sorry for calling him an old fart, the other day"

"It's okay... Still... I had to lie to him the _entire time_, we talked about this! How can he think, I'm honest?"

"Well -"

"And what about purity? Sincerity?"

He covered his face with his hands and groaned in frustration.

"He's wrong... I _am_ pretending. I'm pretending to be normal... when I'm not..."

He sighed.

"Guess, he's got a point about responsibility, though..." he admitted, "That's something..."

"Come on, Cody" she tried to cheer him up, "Cut yourself some slack, okay? I think, you're better at these, than you say."

"Hm..." Cody said removing his hands from his face, "Maybe you're right..." he contemplated, although he didn't sound exactly convinced yet, "Maybe I'm just... overthinking things..."

"Exactly!" Upamon said relaxed, "Just take it easy, okay?"

"Yeah... thanks, Upamon"

"For what?" she asked, "Just stating facts, here"

Cody chuckled returning his gaze to the ceiling.

"Right..." he said smiling.

* * *

"Are we there, yet?"

TK let out a heavy sigh.

"Are we there, yet?"

"Just ignore him..." he muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth, "Can't make him shut up, anyway..."

Phantomon, who was following TK on his way to the lab again, didn't repeat the question.

TK relaxed somewhat, until the faceless hood was hovering right next to his ear.

"Are we there, yet?"

"_Oh, for fuck's sake!_"

"Phantomon" Patamon said, "No offense, but are you really that dense?"

"None taken" Phantomon giggled, "I thought you knew, I was doing that on purpose."

"Yeah, duh!" TK said annoyed, "He _literally_ doesn't have a life anymore, so everything he does, is fucking designed to piss me off!"

"Sorry, TK..." Patamon mumbled.

"No..." TK sighed, "_I'm_ sorry... didn't mean to snap at you like that..."

"Are we there yet?"

"Phantomon, we're very close!" TK exclaimed, "_Hang in there!_"

"Don't you mean _float_ in there?"

"You know, I can't even tell anymore, if you're trying too hard – or not at all..."

"TK, Patamon!"

At the final crossing before the lab, they got stopped by Kari, calling for them from a hallway branching off to their left. They turned to look; Yolei and Cody were already with her.

"Hey guys!" he called back before nodding towards the computer-lab, "Let's go, Izzy is waiting for us!"

"No, wait!" Cody said.

"Huh?"

"He send us an e-mail. He says we shouldn't come to the lab yet."

"He did? Why?"

"Are we there, yet?"

"Phantomon, _shut the fuck up!_" TK yelled.

"Who?" they heard a voice behind TK say.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the two girls he had bumped into before, and who had made fun of him for the stuffed animal, Patamon had pretended to be.

"Whatever" the other girl giggled, "These guys are weird."

"Especially the one with the orange plushy" the other said amused as they walked on.

"What's with all these plush toys by the way...?"

TK sighed again.

"So... why shouldn't we go to the lab, yet?"

"Apparently, Davis' sister is there" Cody explained.

"Oh, okay" TK said, "Guess she shouldn't see our partners, huh?"

"Shh!" Yolei said suddenly, "Someones talking, back there" she added whispering, "I've met her before, I think that's her voice!"

"... pleasure, doing business with you!" a female voice piped.

"Yeah... I bet..." another voice said, a male one this time.

"Is it her?" TK asked.

"Not sure..." Yolei mumbled, "Never heard her when she's happy before..."

A girl with reddish brown hair skipped past their part of the hallway, a satisfied smirk on her face. She didn't notice them.

"Well, that _was_ her..." Yolei whispered, "Never knew, she could be so cheery..."

They waited another few seconds, until the heard a door open and close.

"Coast is clear" Cody said.

"You sure?" Kari asked.

"That was the e-mail, Izzy just send..."

"Oh... let's go then"

They made their way to the lab. Izzy was still standing in the door.

"We have a problem" he said grim.

"When don't we?" TK snorted.

They followed Izzy inside. Tai, Davis and DemiVeemon were already there.

"So, what was that all about?" TK asked.

"Let's see, is there any positive way of phrasing that?" Izzy said, before shrugging, "No. She's blackmailing us."

"What?" Kari asked, "For what?"

"She saw me in Brainiac's room" DemiVeemon explained, "Thought a death threat could keep her quiet but, eh... only worked short term."

"She followed them here, and now she wants us to pay her for her silence."

"You gotta be kidding me!" TK exclaimed.

"I thought I had her, okay?" DemiVeemon said grumpy, "You should have seen her! She was shitting her pants!"

Izzy sighed.

"The worst part is this could go on forever... hate to say it, but we need our treasurer back..."

"Who's -" Yolei started but was interrupted by a muffled voice, coming from a cabinet below one of the desks:

"Guys? Can you let me out?"

"Whoops" Tai said opening the cabinet, letting Koromon out, "Sorry, buddy"

"What were you doing in there, Koromon?" Kari asked.

"We had to hide him from Davis' sister" Tai explained, "So I improvised and stuffed him in there." he concluded with a shrug.

"Okay, but - who's our treasurer?" Yolei asked.

"You mean _our_ treasurer?" Tai said, gesturing to himself and the other original Digidestined, "The guy with the crest of greed"

"Great!" DemiVeemon said rolling his eyes, "If even _you guys _all hate him, I bet he's gonna be a fucking blast to hang around with."

"I still think, he's not that bad" TK said crossing his arms, "You guys should cut him some slack. He saved my life before."

"TK, let's be realistic, there was definitely ulterior motives involved..." Izzy said.

"Now, that I think about it" DemiVeemon said, "Maybe the fact that you all hate him, means that he's actually a decent guy. Looking at all of you dicks, I wouldn't be surprised."

"DemiVeemon, right now you're in _no_ position to judge _anyone!_" Izzy called him out, angry.

"What?" the Digimon asked confused.

"At this point, if I didn't recognize your bad attitude and Brainiac's insane levels of incompetence, I would assume both of you are moles, planted by the Emperor, to destroy our group from the inside!"

"What the hell did I do?" DemiVeemon asked resentful, "Also, how would this idiot, of all people, be a mole?"

"Oh, allow me to elaborate, then" Izzy continued, "Brainiac, you keep endangering our comrades with constant idiocy and a mind boggling inability to pronounce _anything_ correctly, and _you_ DemiVeemon keep baiting all of us into fighting you to the death, and generally think the solution to all our problems is just to kill everything that moves, _including_ our own team mates!"

"It didn't hurt us, so far..." DemiVeemon mumbled defiantly.

"And now" Izzy said taking a deep breath to wind down from his rant, "we're facing a situation, that could easily result in Veemon getting shot by the police, when they raid Davis' home, to take out the 'alien', that is threatening his sisters life. And it's all thanks to this perfect storm of aggression and stupidity... Can both of you just hit the brakes, already? Because sooner or later, we're all gonna die, if this shit doesn't stop!"

"Sorry..." Davis said downcast.

"Yeah, whatever..." DemiVeemon mumbled grumpy, "Guess it's all fault again, huh?"

"Close enough!" Izzy concluded agitated, "Now, thanks to this most recent development, I suggest we have a funding box, from now on. Just in case Jun keeps coming back for more... I mean, it's _us _were talking about, so, we're looking at a ninety percent chance here..."

"So what, everyone just puts a few Yen in there, from time to time?" TK suggested.

"How about each crew member pays three _hundred_ Yen every time they fuck up?" Izzy gave his suggestion (although it sounded more like a command), "That way we can introduce something similar to a learning curve, _and_ make sure, we always have enough money on the back burner, to pay Jun off."

"Does this include me? Or..." Tai asked subdued.

"Let me replace the term 'crew member' with 'Digidestined' then and add the caveat, that that includes their Digimon-partners."

"Well, shit..."

"Now, before we start, has anyone some good news?" Izzy asked hopeful (he looked absolutely drained, from the recent mishaps), "By any chance? I would accept 'no news', too..."

Yolei exchanged a quick glance with Poromon, who was sitting on a table next to her.

"We have something, Izzy-Senpai."

* * *

"That was... mental!" Poromon said, watching the credits to "Titanic" roll over the screen, while Yolei dreamily hummed along to the song playing in the background. It was the night before.

"Wait, you said that was a real event" he continued, "Did it all happen like _that?_"

"Well, Jack and Rose are made up, but I read, the rest is pretty accurate."

"Bloody hell!"

Digesting what he just witnessed, he had trouble keeping his voice down; contrary to Davis, Yolei wasn't home alone.

"How would anyone not know about this disaster?" he continued in absolute disbelief.

"_I know, right?_" Yolei agreed, still annoyed about TK non-existing knowledge of historical events.

"Now, I get why you were so mad at him..." Poromon mumbled.

Yolei glanced shyly at her partner, before clearing her throat:

"So, well... I was..." she fumbled with her words, "Speaking of... having beef with someone..."

"Huh?" Poromon asked confused, "What?"

"Look, there's something on my mind, since the mission yesterday and now I'm trying to work up the courage to talk to you about it and that's why I need a segue" she blurted out, "Can you _please_ humor me?"

"Uh – sure!" Poromon said taken aback, "Go on"

"Thank you!" Yolei said relieved, "Now, um... are you mad at Sora and Biyomon, for some reason?"

"Oh, uh..." Poromon mumbled avoiding her gaze, "Why uh... why would you think that?"

"I saw you glaring at them, during the mission – quite a few times! And at some points you even muttered something to yourself while doing that..."

"I... um... I don't wanna talk about it..."

"Oh..."

"It's not about you!" he clarified, "Or her - it's complicated…"

"Oh" she said and this time she sounded more surprised than saddened, "Well, if that's the case"

She chuckled nervously before continuing:

"I was afraid you hated them for some reason. Or that… I don't know… you thought she'd be a better partner… or something silly… I don't know…"

She tried to sound casual, saying that, but he could tell she was actually anxious to know whether that thought was correct, or not.

"What? No!" he said, "Nothing like that! Honestly, I'm happy we got to be partners. I couldn't see myself working with Davis… maybe Cody but… nah, he's too serious."

Yolei let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, I'm glad! I thought I was… uh, you know…"

"Nah, you're fine" Poromon said relaxed, "I think we make for a pretty good team, actually."

"That's a relief" she said smiling, "And if you don't wanna talk about it that's fine, too."

"Really?"

"Yup" she said (this time _actually_ casually), "It's okay, I wont press you on this."

She stood up and started gathering various items, she would need for the following day at school, putting them into her bag. Poromon watched her, frowning.

"You sure?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it" she said, "I know what it's like when people keep asking you about things you're not comfortable talking about. If you're not ready to tell me, that's fine. Take you're time."

She continued with her preparations.

"You're not curious?"

"Poromon, I said it's fine!" she said, now almost laughing.

"Not even a little?"

"Well, yeah…" she admitted, "But I can wait. I don't need to find out, right now. Unless, of course, it's important information, Izzy-Senpai would get mad at us, for not telling him."

Poromon's eyes lit up for a split second.

"Bollocks! Well, in that case… I guess, I have no choice, but to tell you then…" he sighed – although he didn't sound exactly annoyed about that fact.

"Huh?" Yolei said, puzzled about his sudden heel turn.

"I was… supposed to have another partner. Long before I met you."

Yolei said back down on her bed across from Poromon, looking at him and listening carefully to what he had to say.

"I had just reached the rookie-level, and I was living here on Server. Everything was fine, I was getting by. But then one day this – voice spoke to me. It was like Veemon said, this godly, disembodied voice. They told me I had the potential to become a hero – to save the world! They brought me to this underground facility, and there I met the other Digimon they had chosen. And I met this Gennai person Izzy was talking about, too."

"Really? How was he?"

"Uh, confused… I guess? Anyway, so they had chosen eight of us in total and… you can probably guess, where I'm going with this."

"You were…" Yolei said in disbelief, "Supposed to be with them? Izzy-Senpai, Tai and the others, I mean?"

"Yes… They told us who we would be partnered with, and what the goal was - and I was really on board with it! Saving the world and everything! It sounded great! But then, one day, they called me into the desert temple where the egg of love was and… well, I guess you know the rest of the story…"

"Oh, that's terrible…" Yolei said saddened, "So, that's why you weren't with them…"

"Well, in the end, none of us were. I didn't recognize Agumon or any of them really. Our entire group got replaced! Guess, I was the only who was sealed away under a bloody egg though…" he added sullen.

"Were you… awake? While you were under that egg, I mean."

"Well, no" Poromon said, "It was like sleeping, I guess. Although, after a while… I started to realize that I was dreaming… and…"

"So, you had lucid dreams?" she asked curiously.

"Pretty much"

"That's so cool! I never had a lucid dream… well, at least it wasn't all bad then."

"Yeah… except it was like a dream I could never wake up from… and I knew that…"

"Oh, my god!" she said shocked.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad" he said defusing – before staring blankly ahead remembering the experience, "It was fine… really… yeah, it was…"

He trailed off and ultimately fell silent.

"So, they never gave you a reason?" Yolei asked, "And you never got to meet your partner?"

"Well, before they sealed me away, they made sure to keep us updated on our partners." Poromon explained, "They kept showing us images of them. You know, pictures from the human world. But no: Up until yesterday, I've never met her... On that note, like you said, we have to tell the others, but can we not tell them, who my partner would have been? I mean, you can already tell who it is, but..."

"Oh, of course!" she said immediately, "They don't need to know all the details. At least... I hope they don't..."

* * *

"It was Sora, wasn't it?" Izzy asked dry.

"How did you know, Izzy-Senpai?" Yolei asked baffled.

"Well, _now_ I know" Izzy said eye-rolling, "That before was an educated guess – I mean, come on now! He started acting weird the second Sora entered the room!"

"So much for that idea, I guess..." Poromon muttered.

"My question is, why was that idea, of giving us already existing partners, abandoned?"

"Oh, that's right" Poromon said, "They told me, one of the original DigiDestined's Digimon had died in the human world and they had tried to replace them, but it didn't work out. So they went with playing it safe, and genetically engineering the perfect partners, for each of you, instead."

Poromon shrugged.

"Apparently that DigiDestined really hated the replacement of their partner"

"Oh!" Upamon said surprised, "I think, that was me then!"

"I beg your pardon?" Izzy said irritated.

"Yeah! They partnered me up with this girl. They said she was a DigiDestined, and that her old partner died. Huh... can't remember her name, though..."

"You can't remember the name of your first partner?" TK asked in disbelief, "_And_ she was an original DigiDestined?"

"Look, we only had one mission together! After that, when she went back to the human world, that voice of god or whatever, told me to go to the temple, were you found me. Then they said, that I wouldn't be her partner anymore, that all of that was a mistake, and then they sealed me away. Plus, she was always so mean to me, so, I never liked her, anyways... Cody is waaay cooler than her!"

"Thanks, Upamon..." Cody said somewhat shy.

"Huh, I gotta say, that's fairly useful information, for once" Izzy said mildly surprised, "Looks like there actually _is_ a connection between you three, after all."

"There is?" DemiVeemon asked skeptically.

"Yes! You all have been in contact with humans – or at least were close to it… Anyway, I'm not sure whether this information can really help us uncovering the Emperors identity, since the possibility, of finding out who his partner would have been, might not be enough. But still, good to know."

"Great…" DemiVeemon muttered annoyed, "You know you keep complaining, that we never tell you important stuff, and now that we give you something useful your answer is 'Eh, good job, I guess'!"

"Well, not having crucial information when you need it most, is considerably more annoying, than it is convenient to have mildly useful information. So, sorry, but – not sorry."

"Ugh, good point…"

"But I guess, I can still do some decent research, based on that intel. As for today's objective, I figured you guys should head back to the industrial area, to clear that out."

"What about the last egg?" Gatomon asked, "Shouldn't we try to get that first?"

"Yes, we should, problem is, it appears to be in the middle of the sea. It's just off the shore of Historic Server. I assume, it's in an underwater cave or an air bubble..."

"Oh, no…" Cody said turning pale.

"That's not the main problem though" Izzy said, "There's an oil platform just south of it. It might be connected. Otherwise the only way to get there, would be to dive… Which is unlikely, seeing how all the other eggs were easily accessible – TK, I'm talking about the ones that weren't planted by the Emperor, as bait for a trap!" he shut TK down immediately, as the latter was about to interrupt.

"The bigger problem is, that the platform is heavily guarded" he continued, "I hacked into the surveillance cameras there, and spotted at least two Divermon and a serpentine Digimon that looks like either Seadramon or MegaSeadramon. Either way, it's a champion level at best, and an Ultimate at worst. No, my idea was to clear the industrial area first, that way we would have Andromon available to fight with us. It's at least two Ultimates, after all."

"Ah, I don't know…" DemiVeemon said crossing his arms, "I feel like the egg is too important, to put it on hold like this."

"I agree" Izzy nodded, "Still, I think we should -"

"You said there was cameras you could hack into." DemiVeemon cut in, "You could check the live feed for weaknesses in their defense, then we fly in – I mean they're in the ocean, so if we're quick -"

"Yeah, sure, I get the idea" Izzy said quickly, "Hang on, let me pull up the camera feed. For the record when I said, I spotted them, I meant, I saw them _occasionally. _So, there's a good chance we wont see them, at all. And if that's the case we really should stick to the Andromon-pla-"

He stopped, looking at the screen.

"What is it?" Gatomon asked puzzled.

"Shit!" Izzy hissed, and the group gathered around him, looking over his shoulder, to see what the problem was:

On an empty section of the oil platform, stood a boy with spiky black hair, golden framed shades and a long dark cloak.

"Fuck!" Tai cursed, "What the hell is that turd doing there?!"

"No idea..." Izzy said.

"Well, he can't do anything to the egg, right?" Yolei said, "You said, he couldn't"

"I said, it's unlikely that he can... But we still don't know, whether he built those towers or not... Maybe he has other tricks at his disposal."

Frustrated, he groaned.

"Well, l suppose, _now_ you have to go there!" he said, "Ugh, even with just these three Ultimates there that was a real headache..."

"Relax, man" TK said reassuring, "We got way better at teamwork, we'll get him this time. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You just _had_ to say it, huh?" Izzy moaned.

"Okay, look" TK added, "I'm not trying to jinx it -"

"'Not trying' and 'doing something, anyway' are _not_ mutually exclusive!"

"I'm just saying let's be optimistic, okay?" he specified, "It's gonna be fine!"

* * *

"IT'S GONNA BLOW!" Flamedramon yelled, and everyone ran for an open door leading into a staircase to the lower levels; It was in fact a MegaSeadramon who was guarding the platform, and he had just set a portion of the platform on fire with his energy-beam – specifically one where multiple gas tanks where located. As soon as the door closed they heard a deafening bang from the outside, almost ripping the door out of its frame, and making them instinctively flee further downstairs.

The muffled sound of further explosions upstairs, drove the crew deeper into the structure. Since the attacks happened mostly above the water's surface, they figured they would be better off, hiding in the lower level's of the oil platform – only to realize, that there was water leaking in at multiple points on the outer wall. The Divermon were trying to drown them.

"You're probably wondering how we got here." TK said looking directly into a surveillance camera, in the corner of the room, they had decided to stay in for the moment.

"Not particularly" Izzy replied dry, "As I was saying, only my mic and my audio were malfunctioning. I was still able to see what was going on, on your end. Needless to say, everything's fixed now, let's pick up, where we left off."

"Okay, uh…" Flamedramon said, "You got a plan? Because, to us it looks like, we're pretty much fucked. _Why do we keep getting trapped!?_"

"We're gonna die…" Cody mumbled, sitting on the floor, hugging his legs, rocking back and forth, "We're gonna drown! We're gonna die! This is a nightmare!"

"Oh, my god!" Davis moaned and covered his ears, "Why wont he shut up? It's worse than ever!"

"Uh, because he has a fucking freak out?" TK suggested, "Looks like he's scared of the ocean or some shit. He looked pale as a fucking ghost, when we got to the platform!"

"Seriously?" Flamedramon scoffed, "You think _he _picked up on that?"

"Whatever… any idea where the Emperor went, Izzy?" TK asked

"Believe it or not, the ocean isn't exactly covered by CCTV… But from what I saw, I think it's safe to say, he's heading to the energy source west of your position."

"Wait, I thought the egg was just north of the oil platform." Yolei said confused.

"Looks like he isn't after that thing, after all…" Izzy said contemplating.

"What _is_ he after then?" Hawkmon asked.

"Uh, how do I put this… whatever he is after, is more comparable to the dark towers in terms of its energy reading."

"So what, it's… _dark?_" Flamedramon asked.

"Unless you consider the towers to be very dark."

"Sorry, I'm lost" Flamedramon said puzzled, "Why?"

"Because in that case, it would be more akin to black hole. Like, not only would it be the absence of light, it would also absorb everything in its surroundings, _including_ light -"

Davis stared blankly at the camera his mouth gaping open.

"You know what, fuck the metaphor, in terms of darkness it's like the dark towers… but tenfold. No, that's still an understatement -"

"What the hell is he after?!" TK interrupted bewildered.

"He might... No, it's still too early, to tell."

"Seriously?"

"Look TK, your guess is as good as mine! I can't say what exactly it is, just by looking at an energy reading!"

"But why didn't you point out this place to us before?"

"TK, why would I tell you about a place I want you to avoid like the fucking plague?"

"Yeah – okay, fine!" TK snapped at him, "Fuck! What's this motherfucker tempering with, now?!"

"Calm down!" Izzy commanded, "Also, right now you got more pressing concerns. Any idea what these Divermon are up to?"

"Sounds like, they're trying to punch more holes in the walls" Flamedramon suggested, "Which brings me back to my point: We're fucked!"

"I don't get it!" Armadillomon said frustrated, "Last time we fought an Ultimate, we were doing great!"

"Well, firstly, it's three of them now!" Flamedramon argued, "_Also_, if you didn't try to punch MegaSeadramon in the damn face, we'd still have _someone,_ who was at least kind of adapted to the frigging ocean!"

"Come on! I thought I had an advantage! Guess, I'm not _that_ good in open water... But – come on! I almost had him!"

"Is that your excuse when we're all dead, too? 'Can we try again? I almost had him!'"

"Okay, are you guys done bitching? Because, I think I found an exit for you.

"Okay, lead the way." Flamedramon said.

They followed Izzy instructions – at least, around two minutes later, since that is how long it took Kari, to get Cody to stand up again. Hurrying down a long corridor they made their way into another room. It appeared to be a launch station for escape pods.

"I can't see too clearly from my angle" Izzy explained, "Are there enough for all of you?"

"Well, I guess, one of us plus there partner could fit into one" Flamedramon said while devolving back to Veemon.

"Meaning? How many are there?"

"Enough for that"

"_Ugh…_ of course! Of course there's only one left!" Izzy growled, "I mean, what the fuck did I expect!?"

"So, now what?" TK asked, "Do we pull straws, or something?"

"How about this: we don't waste anymore time and send the most obvious choice instead."

Davis raised his hand.

"Not you Brainiac..." Izzy sighed.

"No, I meant, who do you mean?"

"Try the nervous wreck, lying on the floor in a fetal position, who's obviously scared to death of the ocean"

"You read my mind!" Davis grinned pointing at the surveillance camera, as a sign of appreciation.

"I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you didn't think of that for the obvious reasons, right?"

"Huh?"

"It's okay, I suppose we all know the answer to that..." Izzy said annoyed, "Hmm… these escape pods are probably just meant to take you shoreside... So, the question is, how do we send Cody to the egg? Downstairs might not be the best idea, the platform is flooding, right now..."

"Uh, Kari you're not going down there!" Tai said, "Let's send Team Semi-Disposable instead"

"Who the fuck do you mean by that?" Veemon asked challenging.

"Never mind that" Izzy stepped in, "None of you is going down there. It's too risky. We need another way."

"Don't you have any other tricks up your sleeve?" TK asked urgently, "I mean, if you can create a freaking holograms of us, just by filming us, and teleport rocks around, there's gotta be _something_ you can do!"

"Uh, no." Izzy said plainly, "The tricks, I used so far, are either useless for this situation, or too risky, to be used on you guys, directly. I found something new, but... eh, that won't help, either..."

"What is it?"

"A log file. Every time something something important happens to you or your enemies, it will show up in this text file, I discovered."

"What the hell is that good for?" TK asked impatiently.

"Plenty." Izzy said, "Say, you lost sight of one of your enemies, and are unsure what their status is – or one of your comrades, for that matter, that could very well help clarifying what actually happened."

"Yeah, whatever!" TK snapped back, "I meant: What the hell is that good for – _right now?_"

"_Nothing!_" Izzy fired back, "That's what I _just_ said! We need another plan! Shit... we don't have anyone to dive down there... _of course_ it had to be Gomamon who's still missing!"

"Hang on" Gatomon said, "Biyomon said, she tried getting the gang back together. Maybe she heard something about him"

"Knowing our luck, he's probably in a desert somewhere..." Izzy sighed, "Might be our best shot, though. Tai, can you call Sora to find out?"

"Uh, I have a feeling she'd hang up, before I even said hello..." Tai argued faintly in the background.

"Jesus, that's right..." Izzy said, "Hang on, wont be a minute. Tai, you take over for a second, alright?"

Rustling noises on the duo's end.

"Soooo" Tai said awkwardly, "How are you guys doing?"

"We've been better, crow's nest!" Veemon said sarcastically, "Fuck off!"

"Aaaand Veemon's muted." Tai said, and they could practically hear him grinning, "Man, I never knew Izzy's job could be so much fun!"

"Well, thanks for making ours even _less_ fun!" TK said loudly.

"Uh... yeah, I can still hear Veemon ranting in the background… Ah, crap..."

"Guys, can we hurry this along?" Kari asked over Veemon's ongoing tirade, "Cody looks like, he's about to pass out"

"_Why does he keep yelling like that?_" Cody asked in a panic, covering his ears, "He'll waste all our oxygen!"

"Deep breaths, Cody" Armadillomon said reassuring.

"_That'll waste even more oxygen!_"

"Hey, can everyone just stop fucking panicking?" Tai demanded.

"Tai, Cody is the only one panicking, right now!" Kari said loudly. "Gotta be real though, I just realized, we probably have to rely on Joe to survive, so I'm getting a _tad_ nervous, too... but other than that…"

"Yeah, all of us are pretty much chilled" Gatomon shrugged, "Listening to all the whining though, _I can see why you would think that!_"

"I'm not chilled!" TK said angry, "Right now, I'm fucking pissed we can't go after the Emperor immediately!"

"Why are you so triggered about this?" Tai asked, "He's going after – _something_... I mean, we don't even know, what it is..."

"It's something dark!" TK barked, "You know dark usually means evil, right? Honestly, I hope whatever he's playing with, right now, fucking eats him alive!"

"Oh, yeah... I'm piecing this together, now..." Tai said dry.

"Tai, I'm done, shoo" they heard Izzy next to Tai, "What the – why is Veemon mut- OH, FUCK! VEEMON SHUT THE HELL UP! _You're blowing out my eardrums!_"

"Huh? I thought you had a compressor?" Veemon asked.

"Ugh, looks like it crashed earlier, too..." he muttered, "Anyway turns out, Biyomon heard that Gomamon was hunting for treasure for the last year, or so. Apparently, one of the guys she asked, had pointed him towards one with Joe's crest on it and he was last seen around the ocean somewhere looking for it. So, in conclusion Gomamon's probably where we need to go, after all..." he closed dead panned, "Would have been good to know, before we started this assignment. I would have had at least Cody going straight there, by sending him in with Joe, but oh well..."

"Dude seriously, can you stop being so fucking zen about everything?" TK said unnerved, "It's really starting to freak me out! That little prick is out there, playing with dark forces and you -!"

"How about you calm down instead? We can't help it, right now. Also, as sad as it sounds, I'm starting to get used to the idea, of everyone withholding important information from me... I always take it into consideration, while planning..."

"So, what's the plan, now?" Yolei asked.

"Wannabe, I just told you!" Izzy exclaimed, "Just because I said I would have done something at the start of a mission, but didn't get a chance to, doesn't mean we're not doing it at all! Cody, into the pod, now!"

"_I don't think I can do this..._" Cody said shaking.

"Dude, I'm with you." TK said, "That thing looks like one of the escape pods from 'Star Wars'! I'm not sure if they're supposed to be under water at all!"

"_And why would you think that?_" Izzy asked threateningly, clearly not happy about TK, discouraging Cody from entering the pod.

"Digital World?"

"Huh, guess I walked right into that one..." Izzy admitted.

"Guys seriously! I think I can't - "

"TK, Davis?" Izzy cut him short, "Would you kindly help him in?"

"_No! Guys, please!_"

But it was no use. Cody struggled, but TK and Davis grabbed him by the arms and dragged him into the escape pod.

"Stay strong, Cody" Izzy said calm, "You gotta face your fears eventually. Also, unless it's another practical joke by this world, there's only a slim chance you might die in there. If you stay in here on the other hand - "

Suddenly, a stream of water rushed in through the gap under the door, slowly covering the stations floor in a thin layer of water.

"Yeah" Izzy said mildly surprised, "Couldn't have said it better myself: Certain death."

Cody remained frozen inside the pod, for a second – then he slumped his shoulders.

"I see your point, now..." he said, before gulping and looking out the small capsules porthole, "Send me off... I guess..."

"Glad to see, we're on the same page" Izzy said quickly, "Armadillomon? You're in charge of emotional support. Go!"

"Awesome!" she yelped, jumping into the pod as well.

"Just - " Cody started nervously, "Make sure you distract me, alright?"

"Oh! Let's discuss some battle tactics on the way!" she said excited, "That'll distract you for sure!"

"_Fine... whatever..._" he said, closing his eyes, as the hatch of the pod did the same.

The lock of the escape pod closed and the capsule was launched into the sea. Quickly, it disappeared out of sight.

"Uh, Izzy?" TK said as soon as it was gone, "Didn't you say, we needed Joe, to get Cody to the egg?"

"That I did"

"How the _fuck _are you gonna convince him to help us?"

"Oh, trust me" Izzy said confident, "I have a plan"

* * *

**Somewhere, in the High School, Joe Kido was attending...**

The ambitious, raven haired student with rectangular glasses and skinny physique, was in the middle of a discussion, at two tables put together, with a group of four, similar looking students. They sat there, talking about an upcoming project – or rather, the other four were sitting - Joe was pacing around in front of them.

"Look, I am not saying we _shouldn't_ screw over our customers" Joe explained, referring to the business oriented school project, "All I'm saying, is that we should screw them over, in a way, they won't notice until way later"

"Makes sense to me", one of his team-mates said, "If everyone realizes we're fucking with them, we'll make a lot of enemies..."

"Agreed" another one chimed in.

Joe had basically gathered all the like-minded people, he could find, around himself, within his first week at Senior-High school.

"Exactly!" Joe nodded, pointing at his comrade.

"How long, you think, would be enough to keep us out of trouble?"

"Let's see, until... well – ideally never, but I think, we should keep our expectations realistic and aim for when we graduate."

Joe's four fellow students exchanged quick glances.

"Dude, we're all still first-years..."

"Ever heard of built-in obsolescence?" Joe asked, "We sell them trash, but they wont know, it's trash, until exactly three years later, when it suddenly falls apart in their hands"

"Am I the only one thinking, this is _way_ to much effort for a simple school project?"

"_No_, I think what's happening here" Joe said impatiently, "Is that you are the only one without a vision! You gotta think bigger than -"

But he was interrupted by a cell-phone ringing.

"Oh, excuse me, that's mine" Joe said embarrassed, pulling the phone out of his pocket and flipping it open, "Shit, I gotta take this one! Give me a minute."

"Take your time, we'll discuss realistic ideas in the mean time"

"Look, I know it sounds complicated" Joe argued while hurrying to the door, "but not only will earn us top grades, it will also make us filthy fucking rich! Well, not – _rich_ rich, but – ugh! You get the idea!"

He rushed outside, closed the door behind himself and answered the call.

"What do you want?" he hissed angry; he had recognized the number on the display.

"Is that how you usually greet old friends?" Izzy's voice sounded calmly from his phone.

"Really?" Joe scoffed, "_You_ consider me a friend? Drop the act, will you?"

"It saddens me, that you believe, everyone in your surroundings is coldhearted and manipulative…"

"I know _you_ are…" Joe replied suspicious, "_What do you want?_"

Izzy sighed.

"Fine, if you insist… We have a problem and we need your help"

"What do you mean by 'we'?"

"You wanna guess first? I have a feeling you would nail it first try"

Joe looked out the window toward the city.

"Tokyo looks fine to me." he said dry, "So unless this is about the other place - "

"It is."

"Damn it, Izzy! You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"You didn't read the e-mail, I send you last week, did you?"

"For fuc- _That door closed 3 years ago!_"

"Yeah, in your absence, Tai kicked it open again… albeit by accident…"

"_Why_ is he the leader, again?" Joe asked frustrated.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked" Izzy said with a soft chuckle, "Turns out, I actually _have _good news for you: He's not anymore"

"_Wow_, looks like we're making progress!" Joe said sarcastically, "Come on, can we hurry this up? I'm in the middle of an important discussion! I swear to god, if I get outvoted because you -"

"Fine, fine, relax! Long story short, some of our guys are trapped and Gomamon is in a convenient position, right now, which is why we need you. We need you to go in there, with one of the new kids, because you'll be taken straight to Gomamon then. We're in the computer lab of our old school, by the way. We can enter the Digital World from here."

"Are you out of your mind?! What makes you think, I would want to go back into that death trap?"

Joe heard a splashing sound on the other end.

"What was _that?_" he asked irritated.

"That" Izzy said calmly, "was today in a nutshell. A string of conveniently timed events. As I was about to say: It's not a death trap anymore. Some of us got new Digivices, that allow us to travel back and forth freely. That was one of the new kids returning. He was the only one who managed to get away."

"Every single day in there was one giant near death experience!" Joe argued, "Even if I could leave whenever I wanted to, I wouldn't even hold a single toe into that fucking nightmare!"

"Well, you're in luck then" Izzy said, "Because it turns out, that's not the only motivation, I have to offer you."

"You call that motivation?"

Joe sighed.

"Okay, I'll bite… What else you got?"

"Well, if I recall correctly, your final request to Gomamon was, that he would carry on your legacy and get rich, while you are gone."

"Sounds about right."

"Well, guess what: He did just that"

"Don't bullshit me! As if he got rich in just three years!"

"That's not what I'm saying"

"Then what _are _you saying?"

"That he went searching for treasure" Izzy said, "And apparently he found one with your crest on it. It is an artifact we need, to unlock a new type of Digivolution, but after its one time use, we can bring it to the real world, sell it and split the profit. Right now we're eight, but I would be willing to give you alone fifty percent of the total amount, for your services"

"Pfft! Fifty percent of what? Who the hell would buy junk like that, anyway? Our Digivices were supposed to be sacred items in there. Out here they're just weird looking Tamagotchi's!"

"True, these plastic toys don't sell. However, I know quite a few people, who would be willing to pay a few thousand dollars, for that sort of artifact. You know, the ones that are made of materials, which are completely non-existent in the real world."

"_God_, this is such bullshit!" Joe barked, "All of it! I expected you, to come up with an at least believable lie!"

"I know, I know, it sounds _way_ to convenient to be true. For all parties involved. But ask yourself this: Why would I present something so ridiculous to you, when there are many other lies, I could have told you, that are way more simplistic and much more believable."

"_Oh! _The old This-story-is-so-ludicrous-therefore-it-would-be-a-horrible-lie-and-must-be-true-argument. In case you forgot: I basically invented that strategy!"

"Look, we just need your help, so I figured, I should offer you something in return, since you are usually not – uh… _thrilled_ to work with us…"

"Damn right"

"Okay, if you don't believe me, that's fine. I think, we can still solve this, somehow. As for our potential earnings, I guess we can go with TK's idea instead."

"Sure, whatever… you do th- wait what?" Joe asked startled, "What do you mean TK's idea?"

"Eh, technically it would be _ideas _plural." Izzy corrected himself, "He's got some movie pitches and these artifacts would serve as a decent funding opportunity. Who knows maybe it'll take off."

"Yeah, right…" Joe mumbled before clearing his throat, "Well, have fun shooting your non-existing movies, with your non-existing money…" he added, not quite as sharp as he would have liked to, while scratching the back of his neck.

"Will do" Izzy said off-handedly, "Tell you what, if TK is indeed onto something here, I'll make sure to send you a share. You know, for old times sake. Gotta go, the crew might run out of oxygen. Good luck with your meeting or whatever, bye."

Izzy hung up and Joe was left standing in the school's hallway, still holding the phone to his ear.

His left eye was twitching.

* * *

"Um, guys?" Cody asked uncertainly.

Maybe ten minutes had passed, since Izzy had ended his call with Joe. Since then, he had been typing non-stop and Cody, Armadillomon and Tai kept watching the screen. The crew, meanwhile, was standing ankle deep in water, with its level rising slowly but surely. While they weren't anywhere close to drowning, it was still concerning to watch.

"What are we gonna do next?" he continued nervously.

"I'm making some preparations for a fallback plan" Izzy said absently, "Not too sure, if I'd really want to use this one, though... in the meantime... Tai, you wanna guess?"

"Waiting?"

"Waiting." he nodded, "Excellent..."

"Waiting for what?" Cody asked anxiously, "You said Joe isn't coming, so what... ?"

"I never said that" Izzy said surprised, pausing and looking at Cody, "Taking the train, he would need about five to ten minutes, considering the distance, he'd have to go on foot... yeah, give him another ten minutes, maybe fifteen."

"It did not sound like that..." Cody said incredulously.

"Well, you don't know Joe like we do" Izzy explained.

"Yeah" Tai laughed, "He probably fucking booked it, once you hung up the phone!"

"I don't understand" Cody said confused, "It sounded like he was completely onto you!"

"Oh, he was" Izzy pointed out, "But the one thing you need to understand about Joe, is when there is a serious opportunity to make money for him, however slim the chance, he will take it, as long as there isn't much to lose for him. However, that's the tricky part: going into the Digital World, means he actually _has_ something to lose."

"That's why it was freaking brilliant, to tell him TK would burn it all, in case he didn't show up!" Tai giggled.

"Why thanks" Izzy chuckled, "However, I wouldn't call it brilliant... I would call it the next logical step."

"But - " Cody said worried, "What if he doesn't come here?"

Tai and Izzy burst out into laughter.

"Hang on" Izzy said amused, "I think the others have something to say about that, too"

He put the crew on speaker. Immediately the room was filled with TK and Gatomon's laughter - even Kari and Patamon were giggling.

"Guys, seriously though" Kari said (still laughing), "He's _really_ gonna hate us for this"

"You're saying this, like he never did that in the past" Izzy said, "But to answer your question Cody, I have some alternatives, don't you worry. But, let's be real – Eh, you heard what I told him, just stick to the story."

"I don't know about that..." Cody said timid.

The door slammed open.

"YOU AND YOUR FUCKING MIND GAMES!" Joe bellowed.

"Oh, never mind" Izzy said, "Plan A it is"

"Whoa, did you jump on a moving train?" Tai asked coughing from laughter, "How did you get here so fast?"

"Joe!" Koromon said happy, "It's been so long!"

Joe ignored them.

"You do realize, if this a fucking waste of MY time, I will do anything in my power, to smother ANY of your future careers in the cradle!"

"Glad you could make it after all" Izzy said, "Also, don't you think that's a bit of an overreaction?"

"I couldn't give less fucks, even if I tried!"

"Yeah, I bet" Veemon chimed in giggling, "From what I've heard, you're not fucking anyone. Less than zero, sounds kinda hard to pull off!"

"Who the hell is this, now?!" Joe asked bewildered, looking at Veemon on the screen.

"This is our new leader" Izzy said.

"Really?" Joe asked puzzled, "I assumed you pulled off one of your schemes to overthrow Tai, and take leadership for yourself."

"Why does everyone keep assuming that?" Izzy asked bewildered, "You guys do realize, I do not consider leadership in this group a position of power! I'd consider it a massive waste of time at best, and a decent reason to commit suicide at worst."

"Uh, speaking of wasting time and – uh... dying" TK said, "The water is rising faster now. You wanna hurry up or something?"

"Excellent point, TK. Joe, your Digivice, if you please."

"Sure..." Joe growled taking his Digivice out of the bag he wore around his shoulder. Izzy reached out for it, but Joe pulled his hand back at the last second.

"Joe -" Izzy sighed but Joe cut him off:

"This better be no bullshit!"

Tai, who was sitting behind Joe, jabbed Cody in the side with his elbow, before nodding toward the boy with the glasses.

"Uh – look" Cody said nervously, "He's telling the truth! We don't have much time!"

Joe looked him straight in the eye. Cody didn't break eye-contact once.

"Just – think of what you could do with that money -"

"Oh, I did! Believe me!"

He closed his eyes for a second.

"Fine..." he said passing the Digivice to Izzy, still looking at Cody.

Izzy plugged in Joe's Digivice to look for Gomamon on the map.

"Yeah, that's what I thought..." Izzy said after pinpointing Gomamon's location.

"What?"

"We could have avoided this whole predicament, and worked with you from the beginning, because guess what: Gomamon is exactly where we need him to be... Whatever. Cody, Joe, you two go to the underwater cave and retrieve the artifact."

Joe blinked.

"And Gomamon"

"Yes, obviously!" Izzy said annoyed.

"Not _as_ obvious, when it's you, calling the shots…" Joe muttered, "Wait a minute! An underwater cave? How are we supposed to get out of there?"

Izzy picked up his bag from the floor and pulled out a yellow laptop. Sighing he looked at it.

"It's not working properly anymore" he said, "So, I figured, for an emergency like this one, it would be ideal." he added passing it to Joe, "Take it in with you. If there's no other way out, open the gate with it and leave it behind"

"Man, that's the one you used back in the day!" Tai said recognizing the device, "That's nostalgic as fuck. You sure you wanna waste it like that?"

"Tai, seriously" Joe said annoyed, taking his Digivice back from Izzy, and putting the laptop into his bag, "Fuck nostalgia, right now!"

"I hate to say it, but he's right." Izzy said, "We have more pressing concerns. Cody open the gate."

Cody raised his D3 – but then he hesitated.

"What is it _now?_" Joe moaned.

"I -" he said shaking and lowered the D3,"Just give me a minute -"

"Oh, fuck's sake!" Joe said grabbing his wrist and pointing the D3 at the monitor again, "What the – how does this work?" he added looking at the message on the screen.

"Tell it, to open the gate"

"Open up!" Joe barked.

"Not sure, if it works like that..." Tai mumbled.

"Oh yeah, genius?" Joe said, looking over his shoulder at him, "Then what should I say ins– why are you wearing raincoats?"

Izzy and Tai sat behind them, now both dressed in yellow raincoats.

A swooshing sound from the schools corridors.

"You know what, never mind" Tai said grinning zipping up his coat all the way, "Looks like, it worked after all"

"Are you serious?" Joe asked dry, "The _tsunami_ is the standard?"

"So it seems" Izzy said zipping up his coat as well.

"I hate you..." Joe managed to say before the wave hit him.

The water washed through the room. Once it had spread across the lab, Cody, Armadillomon and Joe were gone.

"You know" Izzy said, while pulling off his raincoat, as the water started to disappear, "These raincoats are essentially pointless. They didn't protect us at all, and even if they did, it's nonsensical, because the water vanishes mere seconds, after the gate closes, anyway"

"Eh, whatever…" Tai mumbled, "But hey: That face Joe made, just now? Worth it."

"Can't argue with that" Izzy said smirking.

* * *

Satisfied, the Emperor looked back, towards the oil platform; a column of smoke, now loomed over it, at an angle. Still none of his enemies in sight.

"Ha! Those maggots..." he giggled arrogantly, "That was just too easy..."

He focused his attention again on the water below him. There was a large whirl, at the spot his Airdramon was circling. He kept pointing his black D3 at it, causing it to grow bigger and bigger by the second.

"Come on, now..." he growled, "Show yourself!"

Finally, the whirl dropped immensely, forming a massive maelstrom, with a seemingly bottomless whole in its center.

A large grin spread across the Emperor's face.

"There you are..." he whispered.

Two glowing red eyes were staring back at him from the blackness below.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**So, I just took the liberty to clean up a little. I didn't see 'Prologue' as a fully fledged chapter and I wanted 'Crap, we're getting rookies' to officially be chapter one, not two (and yes, I am very pedantic over the numbering of my chapters, so it had to be done... Look, it was bugging me for months, okay?).**

**As for upcoming chapters, chapter ten**** (Yes, it's ten, now. Get used to it xD)**** will be up this month on the 26th. Sorry for the delay but I just couldn't make the 26th last month. I'm studying for exams right now, hence the irregular (or... non-existing) uploading schedule. That was supposed to be over soon, but thanks to Corona, said exams have been postponed. So unfortunately, we're not back to guaranteed monthly releases, yet. But hey, there's the quarantine, right now, soooo... here's hoping?**

**On that note, stay healthy and thanks for reading!**


	10. The Crest of - Whatever

-x-

**Chapter Ten**

**The Crest of... Whatever**

Cody, Joe and Armadillomon only had a brief moment to recover from the tidal wave, washing them away, because they were immediately dropped into a pool of water, in a dimly lit cave. Joe reemerged at the surface first.

"I hate this fucking place so much!" he yelled and swam to a stone ledge at the edge of the water.

"Oh, my god! How deep is this water?!" Cody shouted in panic, struggling to stay afloat, "Oh god, no! No, no, no!"

"Over here" Joe said mildly annoyed, now standing at the edge, looking down on Cody, "Come on, the ledge is literally five feet away from you!"

"I can't!" Cody gasped, "Can't do it!"

"Oh, for the love of god…" Joe groaned crouching at the edge, reaching out and grabbing Cody's arm. He held onto him with both hands and pulled the smaller boy out of the water.

"Thank you!" Cody coughed, laying on his back, catching his breath, "You saved my -"

"Gimme a break." Joe huffed, "You wouldn't have drowned! It just would have taken you forever to get out…"

"Uh, guys?" Armadillomon said loudly, "Uh, I can't swim too well, either!"

"Seriously? You too?"

"I mean, I _can_ swim… kinda." she replied, "But just – give me a minute, okay?"

"You gotta be kidding me…" Joe said pinching the bridge of his nose.

He bent over to help her out, but Cody beat him to it. He was lying down on his stomach, at the edge and reached out to her. After a few seconds she was close enough and he helped her climbing out of the water.

"Thanks Cody!" she said gleeful, "I owe you one, okay?"

"Don't be ridiculous…" Cody mumbled, "I barely helped you…"

"Guys, I cannot see you in there" Izzy contacted them from the human world, "So you probably have to find the right way on your own."

"Oh, no…" Joe said robotic, "I guess we _could_ take the giant stairs leading away from the water to a big gateway…" he added rolling his eyes, "But I'm really unsure…"

"Well, I appreciate, you describing the area to me" Izzy replied easy-going.

"So you're really not surprised, that he can talk to us from our world like that?" Cody asked Joe as they made their way up the stairs.

"If you knew the kind of stunts he used to pull back the day, you wouldn't be shocked, either…"

They entered the next room. It was a hall made of stone. It would have been completely dark, if it wasn't for the small spots of light, dancing across the walls and the ceiling, like they reflected off the surface of crystal clear water – however, the room was entirely dry. The larger spots took on the shape of the eight crests, the biggest one in the center, displaying Joe's crest. On a pedestal in the center of the hall was a slimly shaped egg with the same crest engraved into it.

The front of the egg was purple colored, with a silver inlay of Joe's crest. It's back, on the other hand, was of a light silver, with some gold ornaments near its bottom. Next to it, on the floor lay, motionlessly, what looked like a white seal, with an orange Mohawk and purple markings all over his body.

"Gomamon!" Joe said hurrying over to his partner, "Hey, wake up!"

While he didn't seem particularly concerned, kneeling over his partner, he didn't appear to be exactly pleased, to see him in this state, either.

He shook Gomamon's shoulder and the seal slowly opened his eyes.

"Joe...?" he croaked, "Finally... looks like I'm dying after all..."

"Oh, cut it out!" Joe said annoyed, "You're not dying!"

"How would you know?" Gomamon asked, forcing himself to sit up, "I've been starving in here since... well, I don't even know how long I've been here..."

"It's been almost three years, since we last saw each other" Joe said, "Does that help?"

"Huh..." Gomamon said lying back down, "So it _has_ been over a year... I thought, I completely lost track of time... you know... since there's no daylight... told you, I was dying..."

"Hey, genius" Joe argued, "Why would your vision of death look like me at age fifteen? You shouldn't have any idea what I look like right now!"

"You know, for a death vision, you do surprisingly little to guide me to afterlife..."

"I said, stop it!" Joe said sternly, "Also, why didn't you leave?"

"And leave the treasure behind?" Gomamon asked, "I can't move it! Also, I almost died, diving down to the cave as Ikakumon, so couldn't leave the way I came."

"What about that corridor over there?" Joe said pointing to the end of the room opposite of the entrance.

"Yeah, I tried opening the door, but it wont – wait, did you just say corridor?"

He followed Joe's gaze.

"Man, I swear, that thing wasn't open, when I last passed out..." he said dazed.

"Ah, it's okay" Joe said calm, looking closer at it; a few steps led down to the corridor leading up to an industrial looking door.

"Looks like it's flooding..." Joe concluded dead panned.

"Oh, okay..." Gomamon said, "So yeah... figured, I was trapped and decided I might as well guard it like a pirate. You know, those who let themselves be buried on top of treasure chests so their dead bodies could guard them... honestly, I didn't really get it, when you told me about it back then... but now I agree with you... such dedication..."

"Until" Izzy intervened, "you realize, that they didn't do that voluntarily. They were being shot in the back by their comrades and then buried by them..."

"Hey, Izzy" Gomamon said, "Wait..." he added looking around in confusion, "Where is he?"

"Back in the human world" Joe said in passing, "Apparently he can talk to us with his microphone, now."

"Huh" the seal said, "Who knew..."

"But wait, let me get this straight" Joe said puzzled, "You have been here for more than a year? And you didn't starve to death?"

"Uh, yeah I don't get it, either... I guess the treasure saved me from dying... or something... doesn't mean I can't feel it though..." he added clutching his stomach.

"Here..."

Joe reached into his bag, pulling out a small tin box.

"Might be a bit soggy, since we landed in the water back there, but it should do the trick."

Gomamon immediately opened the box and grabbed the chop sticks inside. There was rice, a bit of meat and some vegetables inside. As expected, some water had leaked inside, but Gomamon didn't seem to care; he started basically inhaling the food, the instance he laid eyes on it.

"Oh, man that'sh good..." he munched, "Honeshtly, I thought, I'd never even _shee_ food again... let alone eat shome"

"Hang on" Tai chimed in, "Did Joe just give food to a starving person? Are we in the fucking Twilight Zone, right now?"

"Ugh, shut up, Tai..." Joe said.

"Ish he with Ishy, too?" Gomamon asked, looking around.

"What?" Joe asked annoyed, about him talking with his mouth full.

Gomamon swallowed audibly:

"I said, is he with Izzy, too?"

"No, he can just talk to people telepathically, now – of course he's with him!"

"Geez, sorry!" Gomamon said, "Cut me some slack, I've been out of the loop for a while!"

"Cody, can you walk over to that corridor, Joe mentioned?" Izzy said.

"Sure..." Cody mumbled.

"Oh, hey there!" Gomamon said when he spotted Cody and Armadillomon, "Didn't even notice you guys. I'm Gomamon!"

He extended one of his flippers toward Cody, who shook it after brief hesitation.

"Hey, I'm Armadillomon" his partner said happy, as he walked over to the tunnel.

Gomamon looked at her for a second and blinked.

"Can you roll up into a ball?" he asked.

"Hell yeah!" she replied and did just that, "It's my attack!" she added muffled.

"That's awesome!" Gomamon said with a large smile, watching her form an almost perfect sphere, before quickly rolling into a wall, causing numerous cracks to form on impact.

"Yeah..." she said as she unrolled, "Can be kinda disorienting, though..."

She managed to get back on her feet after several attempts.

"Oh, guess that can be annoying..." Gomamon said, "But hey, it's still pretty neat"

"Yeah, it's not too bad" Armadillomon shrugged.

"So, I guess, I was right" Izzy said as Cody returned to the group, "The oil platform is connected to this room"

"Izzy, I am not leaving through that door!" Joe insisted, "Everything behind it might be underwater for all we know!"

"Oh, god..." Cody said wide-eyed.

"Yeah, you're not going in there..." Izzy confirmed, "As far as I can tell there's at least three rooms you'd have to go through, which are completely underwater at this point. And even if they weren't, the others are trapped in there for a reason, so it wouldn't help if you went in there, too."

"So we're using the laptop then?" Joe asked.

"Let's see, what Armadillomon evolves to, using that egg, first" Izzy suggested, "This room might be connected to an underwater cave for a reason."

"What, you think she'd turn into freaking submarine?" Joe huffed, "Give me a break..."

"Well, not necessarily a submarine, but for example remember, how my Digimon-Analyzer labeled Whamon a champion-level first time we met him? And then next time we saw him suddenly it stated he was an Ultimate?"

"Sure, why not..." Joe said dismissively.

"I thought, it was a glitch at first, but then I looked into it, and it turns out, there's some which are champions and some which are Ultimates. This egg is supposed to evolve her to a level that's in between the champion- and rookie-levels. It's a long shot, I know, but maybe there's one for that level, too... Or something comparable."

Joe stared blankly ahead.

"That's the dumbest shit, I've ever heard." he said.

"Which part?"

"All of it! Even for this world it's _retarded!_"

"Tell me about it..."

"I mean seriously, do they look like that on _every_ level? Is there like a Whamon-sized egg somewhere in Starter Village?"

"Like I said: Unlikely, but it's worth checking out, what she turns into. Blank, you're up."

Cody took a deep breath and put his hands on the egg. He hesitated.

"_What?_" Joe hissed.

"What if it's honesty..." Cody mumbled.

"_Why would you be concerned about that?_" Joe said agitated.

"I have no idea, what he is talking about, either." Izzy lied.

"Look, can you just admit, that you lied to me, so I would come and help you?" Joe said annoyed, "Can we just get this over with?"

"If you're so convinced, we lied to you, then why are you still here?" Izzy argued.

"Yes, I am convinced" Joe said, "That doesn't mean, I'm right..."

"What a weird thing to say" Izzy said, "For you at least..."

"Anyway, uh... Cory... Colm – whatever – Blank! Let me guess what you're thinking right now" Joe said and cleared his throat, "_'Oh, I'm not worthy, because I lied to save my friends!'_" he added, acting whiny, "Honestly, people like you fucking disgust me! Fucking do-gooders, who act like they deserve to go to hell, because of _one_ white lie! I don't know, if you noticed, but all you do is guilt-tripping people into thinking they're fucking monsters, because they lie on a regular basis! You know - _normal people_? I get it okay? You feel guilt and I do not. You're a saint and I am Satan! Get the fuck out of here!"

"I never knew you hated Kari so much" Izzy mumbled.

"He's right" Cody whispered, as it dawned on him, what he meant - what his grandfather had meant, "Intention and outcome... I _want_ to get them out of there. By being down here... we're well on our way to help them, already!"

He picked up the egg. It started to glow, he opened his D-Terminal, and the device absorbed it.

"_Argh! I fucking knew it!_" Joe shouted absolutely furious, "Izzy, you insufferable piece of shit!"

"Sorry, buddy -"

"I'M NOT YOUR BUDDY!"

"Desperate times call for -"

"FUCK YOU!"

Izzy waited a second, as if to see, whether Joe was done yelling, or not.

"Okay, I can see talking to you is very productive right now... You wanna take off right away or do you wanna see what Armadillomon turns into?"

Joe sighed, still fuming.

"You know what? It's gonna be something fucking useless anyway. So, just to see you being wrong for once, I'll _gladly_ stick around!" he added spiteful.

"You sure? The Digital World is unusually benevolent, lately"

"GO!" Joe barked at Cody who quickly raised his D-Terminal above his head:

"Digi-armor energize!"

"Armadillomon armor-digivolve to..." she exclaimed, turning into a glowing orb and flying in an arch over the stairs into the water, "Submarimon!"

"That's so cool..." Gomamon whispered in awe.

Joe didn't seem to share his partners opinion: stone faced, he stared at what Armadillomon had turned into.

"I'm going home..." he said.

"Huh" Izzy said, "Honestly, a variation of Whamon would have been more practical, but eh... at least Cody can leave the cave now. Oh, and by the way, Cody" he added, "That doesn't make up for Frogmon's stunt, that got you all trapped, earlier. So, that's three hundred Yen for the fuck-up-jar, from you."

"Sure..."

"_Fuck-up-jar?_" Joe asked, mystified.

Izzy explained the concept.

"So, in the long run" Izzy said in closing, "I guess we're gonna be rich after all. Told you so."

"Ha ha..." Joe said humorless, pulled Izzy's laptop out of his bag and placed it on the floor.

"You..." Gomamon said uncertain, "You're leaving, buddy?"

"Yes" Joe muttered opening the laptop, "Sorry Gomamon, but you know, how much I hate this place... looks like you can fit in there, too, so they'll get you out of here…"

"Yeah, sure it's okay, I... I get it" Gomamon said trying to hide his disappointment – but he sounded like he had a lump in his throat.

"Uh, Joe one more thing" Izzy said.

"What?" Joe asked expressionless.

"We don't have a safe place for Gomamon to stay right now, so -"

"Alright" Joe shrugged, "I'm taking him home with me, then."

"Really?" Gomamon asked excited.

"_Really?_" Tai asked incredulously, "Man, we really are in the Twilight Zone!"

"Gomamon, it's only fair" Joe said not even acknowledging Tai's existence, "You always had my back, no matter what. In stark contrast to _certain other people!_" he added, gritting his teeth.

"Hard to have your back, when you keep stabbing ours!" Tai fired back.

"I never _once_ stabbed you in the back!"

"Technically he's right" Izzy said, "He only abandoned us, every time, he figured we were no use to him anymore. He never betrayed us."

"Leaving us for dead, counts as betrayal in my book..." Tai said grumpy.

"Okay, that's also fair"

"I told you to run, too!" Joe exclaimed, "It's not my fault if you're suicidal!"

"Hang on, I got a message from TK" Izzy said, "Let me turn this into a general chat real quick..."

_Beep._

"Yo, we get it!" TK shouted, "You both have a point!"

"_Do we?_" Tai and Joe said incredulously.

"Guys! At this point we can go swimming in here!" TK said angry, "Can you just send in the damn cavalry, so we can get out of here and go kill the Emperor?!"

"Hey!"

"Shut up, Wannabe! Whatever he's messing with right now, I bet he has it coming, by now!"

"Spoken like a true DigiDestined" Izzy said, "Cody, get in Submarimon"

"Wait, who's Submarimon, now?" Veemon asked; he sounded amused.

"Armadillomon's new Armor-level"

If it wasn't in there heads, Veemon surely would have been able to hear the playback of his own laughter upstairs.

"Yeah, get in her, Blank!" he laughed, "Be gentle, though. I guess it's the first time for both of you!"

"Huh?" Submarimon asked puzzled, "I don't get it. What do you mean?"

"Can you just -" Joe hissed pinching the bridge of his nose, "open the gate? _Please?_"

"Sure" Cody said and pointed his D3 at the laptop.

The gate opened and he stepped back.

Joe took Gomamon under his arm and walked toward the glow.

"Joe?" Gomamon said somewhat timid, "Sorry, I didn't get rich, buddy..."

"It's okay" Joe sighed, "You tried. I tell you what, we'll find a way to get rich in the human world. Together."

"Hell yeah!" Gomamon said excited.

"Hey! Um..." Cody called out after them, "Thanks for your help! And... sorry for lying to you, earlier..."

Joe didn't even look back; he stretched out his left arm horizontally and gave a thumbs down while walking through the gate.

* * *

"Where the hell are you?" TK gasped; at this point the crew was literally neck deep in water. The liquid had carried them all the way up to the sealing and now they were struggling, to keep their mouths and noses above the water line.

"I thought the cave was close to the oil platform?" he continued.

"Hang on!" Submarimon said hectically, "There's only two of the Divermon left. Wont take a minute!"

"Wait, weren't there just two to begin with?"

"Yup..." Cody said dry.

"What? No way! I could have sworn it was like four at one point!"

"No, you just kept evading these two the entire time..." Cody sighed.

Submarimon hesitated for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure, I got one of them, though!"

"Please, stop rolling like this!" Cody added frenetically, "I think, I'm gonna be sick!"

"Cool!" TK said sarcastically, "So we're gonna drown now, huh? Fucking amazing!"

"TK, shut the FUCK up!" Tai said unnerved, "You're not helping!"

"Well, he isn't wrong, though..." Izzy said.

"Oh, don't you start now, too!"

"_I mean_, we need to get them out of there – now!" he clarified, "I hoped, they would clear the area before everything got flooded, so they could still get upstairs..."

"Worked like a charm!" Veemon shouted.

"Obviously – anyway, in the meantime I worked on an exit strategy"

"Whatever it is, you better do it fast!" Gatomon said urgent.

"Fuck..." Izzy said nervous, "Damn it, there's no other way... Huddle around TK, he's in the right spot."

"The right spot for what?" Gatomon asked.

"Just do it!"

They followed his instructions.

"As close, as you can" Izzy said tense, "That's it. Now... Hold on to your butts... or – guts... shit!"

"What do you mean by -" Yolei started but she was cut short, when suddenly the pressure of the air and water around them increased. Everything went black for a split second, then all over sudden, they were above the ocean. They could see the shoreline below them, but the scenery was gray, completely desaturated. Meanwhile the pressure increased further, threatening to crush them. A blink of an eye later, they were back to the oil platform, but on top of it this time. It was, as if a bubble was bursting around them: The pressure was released, and the water burst away from them, in all directions. It took out some of the fires in the general area, and while there were still fires raging around them, it made the general area a lot safer. Strong winds were blowing, driving the smoke mostly away from them.

The structures on top provided lots of cover for them, and thankfully so, because all of them were absolutely miserable at this point: Veemon stumbled forward and landed on all fours, vomiting violently (and cursing accordingly). Yolei lay on her back coughing non stop, while Davis was on his stomach groaning loudly into the floor. Kari apparently had a hard time deciding which part of her hurting body to hold, clutching her head at first, but once she fell to the floor, she settled on holding her torso, lying on her side. TK tried to walk to one end of the platform, but he kept falling down, as if his balance was completely gone – Gatomon was essentially doing the same. Patamon had curled up into a ball, shaking heavily, and Hawkmon was just extremely confused; dazed, he looked around and occasionally tried to fly, which resulted in him going in a small circle before falling down again. All the while he kept mumbling something unintelligible – and probably nonsensical, judging by the way he looked.

"What the HELL happened to them?!" Tai asked baffled.

"You know..." Izzy said and sounded very much unsettled, "I say, you shouldn't worry about that too much, because I can assure you it wont happen again."

"I fucking hope so!" Tai said, "Be more careful next time, man!"

"No, I meant it wont happen again, because I will not use this method again!"

"What the fuck did you do to us anyway?" Veemon asked angry, "It felt like we were being crushed to death!"

Yolei now started vomiting onto the platform as well.

"Essentially, I added you to the clipboard and then moved you to the top of the oil platform."

"Oh, the clipboard..." Kari said weak, "So _that's_ what that was... good..."

"_You copy-and-pasted us onto the platform?_" Yolei asked bewildered (and still catching her breath), "You're _amazing_ Izzy-Senpai!"

"Eh, it wasn't exactly copy-and-pasting, it was more of cut-and paste, but that's basically the idea. On the topic of being crushed, that is exactly the reason why I didn't wanna use this trick, unless there were absolutely no other options left. Remember how that strip of rock, I dropped on MetalGreymon crumbled when it fell? That was a solid piece of rock – and I didn't do that."

The group fell silent, realizing just how close to death they had been earlier.

"_Don't ever do that again_" Tai said threateningly, "_Ever!_"

"Don't know if you noticed, Tai, but I don't intent to. Who knows how fast the pressure in that clipboard increases. If we did this again, my timing might be slightly off and then -"

"_Yeah_ OKAY, we get the idea!" Tai barked unnerved.

"Guys..." TK said still slowly swaying left to right, "That's the Emperor's Airdramon, right?"

He stood a bit away from rest of the team – staring at an enormous sea serpent, glaring back at him from the clouds of smoke.

MegaSeadramon's body was red with black stripes and a white belly. Three pairs of lateral fins grew out of his sides, along with several spikes and and few dorsal fins on his back. Green hair decorated the back of his head, and he had a small equally green, fluke. He wore a golden mask with a blade attached to it right above his eyes, pointing forward and slightly up in a shallow angle. It was lightning shaped.

"Fuck! Get down!" Veemon shouted and tackled TK from behind, throwing down behind a crate on the deck.

MegaSeadramon fired off a bolt of lightning from his blade and hit the crate. The serpent stopped to readjust his aim. His blade lit up to prepare a second attack.

"Shit..." Veemon mumbled.

"_Hold on to your butt, Cody!_" Submarimon shouted excited.

"OH GOD, NO!"

Submarimon shot out of the water like a rocket. She looked like a mechanical swordfish with a spiked spear at the tip of her nose. Her outer shell was colored like the egg was; She was mostly silver, with a purple belly. She had two long, lateral fins and there was a small set of propellers attached to the middle of her tail fin. Armadillomon's armor plating on her chest, as well her ears and hind legs gave of a sense of familiarity, while the crest, painted in red on the side of her shell, completed the look – but more importantly there was a cockpit stretching from her forehead almost halfway down her back. In it was Cody, pale as a ghost and screaming in terror.

She hit MegaSeadramon in the side of the head with the spear on her nose. The serpent fell sideways while firing off his attack; the energy beam hit the structures above and around them, setting them on fire, too.

Following shortly after Submarimon, were the two Divermon, gray and white frog-like creatures wearing scuba gear, roughly the size of a regular rookie-level. The reptiles fired their harpoons after Submarimon, following her past MegaSeadramon, who was shaking off the heavy hit, slowly reemerging from the water.

"Well, guess it's time to join the party then" Veemon said grinning, albeit still a little bemused, "Brainiac, think you can handle a second Digivolution?"

"Uh, sure" Davis said, getting back on his feet, "I think I got the hang of this... Digi-armor eneeeeeeergize!"

"Ugh, do you HAVE to say it, like a complete retard?" Veemon complained while turning into Raidramon.

"Shut up, saying it like that helps me, okay?"

Raidramon shot his lightning at the waters surface, creating a small ice platform near MegaSeadramon. He jumped onto it, using it like a stepping stone, in order to reach the sea serpent.

"Ugh! This damn smoke!" Gatomon complained, as she jumped onto the ice herself.

Thanks to the wind the smoke cloud was rather close to the waters surface at this point, making it hard for them to see clearly.

"That's not gonna help" she added.

"What? You're not up for a challenge?" Raidramon laughed.

"Hey, don't put words in my mouth!" Gatomon smirked.

"Digi-armor energize!" Yolei exclaimed and just a moment later Flybeemon shot past the group toward the enemy. His own lightning attack hit the water, roughly where the Divermon were chasing Submarimon. The two frogs stunned by the electricity, but despite the fact that the lightning spread over a surprisingly large area, MegaSeadramon was unaffected by it – probably because he used lightning based attacks. Still, Flybeemon's arrival, drew the sea serpent's attention, giving Raidramon an opening to latch onto MegaSeadramon's back and sink his teeth into him.

"_Bad idea!_" Submarimon said strained; since she was underwater too, she had been also stunned.

"Oh, bollocks!" Flybeemon said, "Sorry!"

"Izzy?" TK said suddenly, "Which way's west?"

"Your guys are fighting at the north side of the platform."

"Um..."

"To the left, TK..."

"Gotcha! Patamon, let's go!" TK said, running towards the western end of the platform, "Digi-armor energize!"

Patamon turned into Manbomon, and TK jumped on his back while he flew over the edge.

"Don't worry guys, you got this! I believe in you!" he shouted back.

"Wait, wha- ?" Yolei asked confused about his sudden departure, "West? Why – _where are you going!?_" she finally shouted after him.

"I'm off to kill the Emperor!" he called back casually.

"_Oh, my mistake!_" Yolei scoffed, "_Obviously_, you couldn't _possibly_ figure out a way, to settle this without killing someone, _you freaking psychopath!_"

"_What?_" TK shouted back, "I can't hear you! The waves are too lo..."

"Did he just get quieter as he went further away?" Cody asked puzzled.

"Uh, duh!" Yolei said annoyed, "That's how sound works, Cody. Shut up!"

"No, what I meant was – ugh... you know what, forget about it..."

"Huh, so much for 'we don't have anyone who's adapt to the ocean'..." Izzy mumbled.

"_Kinda_ forgot about him once the platform went up in fucking flames!" Raidramon argued, before biting back down into MegaSeadramon's flesh

"Great!" Yolei huffed, "Now what?"

"What do you wean?" Raidramon said muffled, since he was still biting down into MegaSeadramon's thick hide, "We figh- hey!" he added releasing his bite, but still holding onto him with his claws, as the sea serpent started to thrash around wildly trying to shake him off, "Hey, stop it, dipshit! I'm trying to have a conversation here!"

MegaSeadramon tried firing another lightning bolt at him but the Armor-level was too close to his neck, so he couldn't turn his head far enough. He threw his body around some more until Raidramon finally lost his grip. He fell towards the water, and barely managed to create an ice platform to land on.

Meanwhile, Submarimon was zigzagging below the surface, dodging the Divermons' spears.

"Hey, Flybeemon!" she said, "Can you distract these two for me? I wanna fight MegaSeadramon, but I can't get a clear shot!"

"Uh, sure!" Flybeemon said, and started to shoot stingers at the frogs following her close to the surface. He hit them, but only one stopped and turned to fight him instead.

"Nice, I think that should do the trick!" Submarimon said smirking.

"_What?_" Cody said nervously, "There's still one after us!"

"Relax, it'll be fine!"

"You're welcome – OW!" Flybeemon said, only to be cut off by Divermon's harpoon hitting him in the shoulder.

"Careful, Flybeemon!" Yolei called out.

"I'm okay!" he gasped, pulling the spear out of his shoulder before firing another burst of stingers at his foe.

MegaSeadramon fired another shot at Raidramon, destroying the platform he was standing on. He jumped away to the first platform, just in time, before it exploded.

"Hey, Submarimon!" he yelled agitated, "How about you start fighting this -"

An explosion followed by a large splash of water near MegaSeadramon's tail, which was underwater.

"You were saying?" she asked smug.

"Uh, I was saying, you have his attention now..."

MegaSeadramon had just decided to dive down and deal with Submarimon first. As the upper half of his body was submerged, his tail came out of the water, exposing the Evil Spiral that was located there.

"Oh, no you don't!" Raidramon barked shooting an extensive amount of lightning at the serpent and the surrounding water, creating an enormous chunk of ice in the process, with the center of MegaSeadramon's body trapped in the middle of it. Immediately, him and Flybeemon tried to hit the tail and the spiral but the serpent was whipping it around, fast.

To make matters worse, the smoke grew thicker. At this point they could barely see their enemies.

"Damn it!" Flybeemon called out, but Gatomon said:

"I got an idea! Submarimon on my mark, you shoot at his head, and try hitting him from below! You know – just in case I miss..."

"Okay, no problem!"

"What do you mean, 'no problem'?" Cody asked, nearly hyperventilating at this point.

She quickly circled around MegaSeadramon's head. Whenever he shot a bolt after her she dove further down to dodge, thus making sure, she stood below him. The only problem was, that the electricity, kept stunning her (Thankfully Cody was unaffected by this, inside).

"_Damn it!_" she growled.

"I deal with the fires!" Raidramon shouted, and started to shoot lightning at the lower portions of the platform, which were burning – actually managing to suffocate the flames, as the ice enveloped the structures.

In the mean time, Gatomon jumped on the ice encasing the serpent – mostly blind, but she guessed correctly and landed on top of it. She slid across it's surface and off aiming for the spiral.

"NOW!"

She hit, but just the tail and not the spiral. The impact was intense even tilting the ice a bit. Meanwhile, Submarimon barely managed to fire her torpedos in time, due to his efforts of stunning her. A split second later, an explosion followed, and MegaSeadramon's head breached the surface again. Gatomon flew past the the edge of the ice chunk, which was now, almost at a ninety degree angle. She turned upside down and hit it with her Lightning-paw, now fully tipping it over. The sea serpents head was now fully flung out of the water, while his tail was dragged down again. At the same time the smoke, finally cleared somewhat.

"Nice!" Submarimon said, satisfied.

She prepared to fire again, but MegaSeadramon shot a stream of lightning at the others above, dragging it across the waters surface when they dodged it, stunning Submarimon in the process.

MegaSeadramon repeated the progress, making sure that his attacks kept hitting the water, whenever they missed his opponents.

"Go!" Raidramon shouted, "Destroy the spiral already!"

"I can't!" Submarimon said strained, "He keeps stunning me!"

"Yeah - but not your torpedos!"

"Huh?"

She paused, but then she smiled.

"I like the way, you think!" she grinned.

In between the lightning attacks she turned, struggling to perform the maneuver as quickly as possible.

MegaSeadramon shot another stream of electricity into the water, but just a split second prior, Submarimon fired directly at the spiral, destroying it instantly.

MegaSeadramon roared and threw his head around. A moment passed, and the serpent's expression changed from angry to confused.

"Huh?" the serpent said dazed, "What's going on?"

"Freed you from the Evil Spiral!" Submarimon said airily while surfacing, "You're welcome!"

"Oh, thanks, uh... What - Why am I stuck in an iceberg?"

"Whoops! Sorry!"

Submarimon shot at the ice – only managing to break a small portion of it off.

"Um..." she said awkwardly.

"Oh, boy..." the serpent sighed, "Hang on... maybe I can – _Ow! What the - ?_"

Two harpoons hit MegaSeadramon, and got stuck in his hide; the two Divermon were now actively attacking him, too.

"Oh, that's right these two are still there!" Submarimon said surprised, "Wait a sec, we'll deal with -"

MegaSeadramon fired at the Divermon, roaring furiously.

" - them..."

The attack hit both Divermon, who had been right next to one another at that point. One only had his Evil Spiral destroyed – along with the arm it was attached to. The other was straight up gone.

"_ARGH! Y-YOU B-B-BITCH!_" the remaining Divermon shrieked (Still twitching from the electricity), turned around, and swam away, "You'll pay for this, you son of a bitch! You'll see! _I will have my vengeance!_"

"Um... You think, I should be worried about that?" MegaSeadramon asked uncertain.

"Probably not" Raidramon snorted, when he and Gatomon jumped back onto the oil platform, "These pricks are all talk. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they're champion-levels at best"

"Wait..." Yolei said slightly shaken, "Wh- What happened to the other Divermon?"

"He's dead." Izzy said simply.

"Oh my gosh, are you sure?" she asked frantically looking all over the waters surface, scanning it for a sign of the missing Divermon.

"Well, the log says: MegaSeadramon (neutral) obliterated Divermon (enemy)... Interesting vocabulary, I might add."

"_God DAMMIT, MEGASEADRAMON!_"

"Whoa! What's her deal?" MegaSeadramon asked bewildered

"Don't ask!" Raidramon moaned.

"Guys, I've been keeping an eye on TK, while you fought these guys" Izzy cut in, "Or an – ear... whatever, point is, it looks he could use reinforcements"

"Submarimon, Flybeemon, go help him" Raidramon said, "Kind of long way to produce ice the entire time"

"I don't think, I can do it, either..." Flybeemon panted, "I took few hits... sorry..."

"We go get him." Cody said, sounding like he had calmed down by now.

"You sure, you're gonna be okay, Cody?" Submarimon asked.

"Look" Cody sighed, "Compared to what we've just been through, a – _normal_ trip across the ocean, sounds relaxing as hell..."

* * *

"Are we still going the right way?" TK asked, as him and Manbomon raced across the water, to catch up with the Emperor.

"You know, I shouldn't even help you with this" Izzy said, "You know, with you basically going rogue, and everything. However, since you are so worked up about this, I almost have hope, you might actually take him out this time. And yes, you're going the right way. You're nearly there, actually."

"Uh, TK?" Manbomon said suddenly, "Don't wanna worry you, but..."

"What the hell is that, up ahead?"

"Might be you're target, you should definitely see it by now, if it's above the surface."

"Yeah, it's not above the surface then..." TK said somewhat uneasy, "Hey – what are the chances, it's in the middle of a giant whirl instead?"

"Reasonable. All I see, is the ocean and an energy source on the map."

"Because, there is a fucking giant whirl, right in front of us!"

"Figured. Would have been oddly specific, if the ocean, you're looking at, was calm..."

"Fuck! Think you can handle this, Manbomon?" TK asked.

"Sure! I can swim up waterfalls, too!"

"You can? Holy crap!"

"Uh, okay kind of... it takes time... but I can handle this!"

"Why didn't you bring him at the start of the mission, again?" Izzy asked annoyed.

"Uh, duh! Because then I wouldn't have him now!"

"You planned that far ahead, huh?"

"Yup, definitely!"

"Uh huh, gotcha..."

"Oh, up yours! If you thought of it from the start, then why didn't you remind me?"

"Help me out here, does my job look fun to you TK? Babysitting you guys, all day?"

"Uh, not really..."

"Then why would I go out of my way to remind someone of every tiny detail, who I can usually trust, to think at least _somewhat_ for themselves?"

"Shut up!" TK growled.

"Hold on TK, we're going in!" Manbomon exclaimed.

He swam the the rim of the maelstrom which was now spreading more than a hundred feet across the waters surface. He swam down stream, making an effort not go too fast. Finally they crossed the edge.

"HEY DIPSHIT!" TK yelled, once he spotted the Emperor, "WHAT DO YOU – think... you're doing..."

His eyes widened, when he spotted the creature, that was down there with him – or what was left of it: The Emperor was absorbing its data, by pointing his D3 at it. Only this time, he seemed to be absorbing the being itself, instead of just its data.

At this point only the creatures head, torso, arms and wings were remaining. Its body was entirely black, the arms long and slim covered with straps and bandages, and it had enormous claws on its fingertips, some of them blood-red. It appeared to have had a very thin physique, nearly gaunt, with some of its bones being visible through its leathery skin. Its large wings were tethered, and resembled the ones of a bat. In stark contrast to the rest of its body, its face was of a pale gray, but its upper half was covered by a black mask only showing two large horns growing from the sides of its head and two burning red eyes.

"What is it, now?" the Emperor asked annoyed, while the being just looked up at them, an evil smile on its face.

"_Well, well..._" the being said smug; he talked with a demonic, distorted voice, "Who is this now?"

"Uh, TK...?" Manbomon said, hesitantly at first, but then, since his partner just stared in shock, he added, more urgently: "_TK?!_"

"_Devimon..._" TK whispered.

"_TK?_" Devimon asked, before flashing a malicious grin, "Is that you, kid?"

"Wait, you know each other?" the Emperor asked irritated.

"Oh, yes..." Devimon said, "He was the one who got me killed. Who's that fish, by the way? Don't tell me, you had to replace your partner!" he added mockingly.

TK seemed to snap out of it now – at least he growled angrily at Devimon.

"Tell you what, let's let bygones be bygones." Devimon continued, "I wont do anything to you, if you help me out of here. Come on, now. I'll give you a puppy!" he added enticing.

"You can shove that 'puppy' – uh..."

He paused seeing that the line, Devimon's body had disappeared below, had crept halfway up his chest – rendering TK's first suggestion, where to put the puppy, impossible.

"Uh... down your throat..." he finished, with a sigh, having lost his momentum.

"How about a kitten?" Devimon asked, his grin still as large, as it was before.

"I'm not falling that shit again!"

"_You fell for that before?_" the Emperor laughed, "That's the oldest trick in the book, man!"

"I didn't fall for fucking puppies, asshole!" TK shot back, "... I just accepted shelter and some food..."

"You took _food_ fromthis asshole?_ That's even worse!_"

"Uh, in hindsight it might have been imaginary..." TK clarified, "Also, I didn't know it was coming from _him!_"

"Looks like you don't like this brat, huh, kid?" Devimon said to TK, "How about this: You help me, and I help you to take him out?"

"Don't let him trick you again!" the Emperor taunted, "Even if half of him wasn't gone, he couldn't fight for shit. I guess, you could say, it's basically his remains down here… Very chatty remains, by the way..."

"Come on, man, get us closer!" TK said to Manbomon, "We need to stop him!"

"Hang on!" Manbomon said, "Gotta be careful, or else we might get sucked down!"

"What about _you_, huh?" Devimon asked looking at the Emperor, as the line reached his shoulders causing his arms and wings to fade quickly, "I can help you against him, too. I could even make it a compromise; I can still give him a puppy..."

"Huh?"

"... _on fire!_"

"Oh, my god!" the Emperor said rolling his eyes, "Is that supposed to be creepy or something?"

"Listen, dickhead!" TK shouted, "I don't know what you _think_ you're dealing with here, but it's even worse than SkullGreymon: you _cannot_ control this guy! I don't care, who you think you are!"

"Oh, I don't need to control him..." the other boy said calm, "I just need his power..."

"You can't even control _that!_" TK countered, "It's pure evil! _Concentrated dickheadness!_"

"How about I dissolve his entrails..." Devimon suggested, now just little more than a head, "... _slowly..._"

"_Yeah, okay! _I think, I get the idea!" the Emperor shouted annoyed, "He's the devil! _Go figure!_"

"Come on, Manbomon!" TK demanded, "Don't you have ranged attacks?"

"Hang on, let's try... _this!_"

He threw a punch towards the Emperor's Airdramon – it had about the effect of a strong gust of wind.

The Emperor sighed.

"If you were still wondering why I'm still making fun of you... look no further..."

"Are you serious, Manbomon?"

"Sorry! I guess, those only work under water... so, yeah... no ranged attacks"

"You gonna regret this kid!" Devimon said, now actually with some menace in his voice, "If you don't stop now, I swear thi -"

He was cut off as the line crossed his mouth, erasing it from existence.

However, his facial expressions, gave them a pretty good idea, what he (angrily) said afterwards:

'WHAT?_ NOOO!_'

And maybe something along the lines of:

'_DAMN YOU! YOU LITTLE BRAT!_'

"Way better!" the Emperor sighed, "Why couldn't this have started from the top...? Well, looks like we are out of time! Or rather – _you_ are!" he added cackling.

"TK?" Izzy chimed in, "Help is on the way -"

"Great! Can they hurry the fuck up?"

"Yeah, well, in the meantime remember seeing all the dark towers in the ocean?"

"_What?_ No, there weren't -"

TK stopped himself, and now it was his turn to flash a smirk.

"Jump out, and turn back into Patamon, when I tell you!" he told Manbomon.

"Uh, okay..."

"NOW!"

Manbomon jumped out, started to glow and shrink. Once the glow faded, he was back to Patamon, and they were both falling towards the Emperor, TK pointed his D3 at his partner.

"_Patamon digivolve to..._" the Rookie-level exclaimed, "_Angemon!_"

And thus, Patamon had turned into the ten foot angel, TK had mentioned, before: He had six white wings and a muscular, equally white, body. He had a golden armor piece on his shoulder, and a heavy golden ring around his right wrist. A blue ribbon was wrapped around his right leg and left arm. He had long red hair and the top half of his human like face was obscured by an iron helmet. The angel carried a long golden staff, as his weapon of choice.

Angemon flew and caught TK in midair, and put him on his back – all while keeping up his collision course with Airdramon.

The Emperor's lackey, breathed a stream of fire toward him, forcing him to stop, and fly upright, so that his body was in between TK and the attack. Additionally, he spun his staff around, to block the fountain of flames. This, however gave the Emperor enough time, to finish what he had started: The little bit of Devimon that was still there, vanished into thin air.

"Fuck!" TK cussed.

Without a warning, Airdramon flew directly at Angemon, biting down on his staff, he was still holding out in front of him. The angel grabbed the staff with both hands, to keep his opponent at bay.

"Actually, why not?" the Emperor said suddenly, pointed his D3 at Angemon – and immediately small bits of his data started coming loose of his skin, flying into the device.

Angemon ripped his staff to the side, flinging off Airdramon in the process. The dragon now started to fly in a circle along the liquid wall, while the raven haired boy kept aiming his D3 at Angemon, absorbing more of his data.

In response, Angemon flew towards the wall as well, chasing after his enemy. He punched after them, his fists lighting up every time, and shooting out golden beams of light. Airdramon kept evading the shots, which exploded upon hitting the walls around them, creating huge splashes of water.

Seeing, how his strategy didn't work, Angemon fell back, shot directly into the water next to him, using the blast to get launched across the eye of the whirl – and directly at Airdramon.

He punched another beam of light directly into his face before he could react properly; Airdramon was hurled into the water. Through the surface they saw that the Emperor had fallen off, and was now floating somewhere near the dragon. Airdramon, however, quickly swirled around and picked him back up. As soon as the boy had found his grip again, Angemon's data started streaming toward him again – even before they eventually shot out again.

Airdramon latched onto Angemon's staff again, but this time he ripped it out of his hand, while shooting past him, and threw it into the water. After that, he started to circle the angel again, but now the dragon flew more erratically, making it harder for Angemon to hit him. The angel remained in the center firing shot after shot at his opponent, while the Emperor kept absorbing his data.

Another fire fountain. Angemon was forced to block it, by crossing his arms in front of his face. The flames died down quickly, but suddenly Airdramon was next to them. The serpent started wrapping himself around his foe and tied him up like that. The Emperor continued stealing his assets, with a satisfied grin on his face.

Meanwhile, TK had trouble breathing, since Airdramon nearly crushed him, between himself and the angel. He looked down and saw, that there was now a black spiral attached to him near the end of his tail.

Angemon still had his arms crossed, now directly under his chin. He managed to wiggle his arm downward, just a bit – only to bring it back up in the lightest of punches. But it was enough to hit Airdramon in the face with another beam of light.

TK, who was looking up in that exact moment, was certain, he saw Airdramon's skull crack from the blast. The dragon immediately let go of them, and flew upwards. His course was wobbly, though. Dazed from the heavy hit, he was seemingly unable to fly straight anymore. He had to course-correct over and over, and they could hear him roaring in pain.

"Well!" the Emperor shouted back down, as his mount somehow had managed to climb up halfway to sea-level, without crashing into the walls, "I got, what I needed!"

He made a quick swiping motion with his D3, and suddenly the rotation of the water nearly stopped. The walls around them started to collapse, as TK and Angemon chased after the other two. Above them they saw Airdramon reemerging from the shadow of the maelstrom; they had made out in time.

TK and his partner were less lucky: There was still a good distance between them and the surface when the water finally closed in on them. TK lost his grip, as the water pushed him down. Separated from his partner, he saw through the chaos of a million bubbles, that Angemon had come out on top. There was another flash of light, indicating that either him or his opponent had fired off another attack. However, the angel didn't fly after them. He remained at the very same spot, hovering above this patch of ocean; he was looking for his partner.

TK felt himself getting dragged down, further and further. He tried to swim up, but it was impossible. He lost his last bit of strength, as he ran out of oxygen.

'_Great…_' he thought not strong enough to be angry anymore, but still conscious enough to be annoyed, '_So it's drowning, after all…_'

He closed his eyes.

Suddenly, something big hit him from the side. He looked, but since he was to weak to see clearly, he shut his eyes again. The round object dragged him through the water, and he could tell, they were going up. He pressed his lips together, desperately trying not to swallow any water. It got harder and harder for him to stay conscious.

'_Come on..._' he thought strained, '_Get up! Get..._'

They burst through the surface.

TK took the deepest breath, he had ever taken in his life.

Coughing, he lay on top of whatever saved him. It looked like a big swordfish – only Cody was poking out of it's head.

"TK!" the boy said worried, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." TK coughed, "Thank you... you two saved my skin... again..."

"At least, this time we didn't kill anyone in the process..." Cody muttered.

"I said, I was sorry!" Submarimon said pouting.

"TK!"

Patamon shot down from the sky, directly at his partner. TK said up cross legged, and caught him in his arms.

"I'm so sorry!" Patamon sobbed, "I realized, you were gone, when I was out of the water and – and – I'm..."

"It's okay, buddy..." TK said smiling petting his back, "I'm okay. It all worked out..."

He looked at Cody.

"Guess, you guys cleaned up your end, too, huh?" he continued, "Uh, because if you didn't and you just came here to get us, for more men-power... well..."

"Oh, no it's all clear!" Cody said quickly, before staring in the distance, "It went great... really..."

"Oh, really?" TK asked dry, "Funny, looking at your thousand-yard-stare, I could have sworn, everything went to shit -"

"One of the Divermon died, and the other lost an arm!" Cody blurted out, angry.

"Oh..." TK muttered, "Okay Cody, listen. I know, all of this seems really messed up, to you, but here's the thing: Gatomon had a rough upbringing."

Cody stared at him.

"It's not her fault, she's behaving like this. I think, at this point, she just doesn't know any better."

"Wha- no! She didn't do that! MegaSeadramon did!"

"Oh! Okay, sorry! That totally sounded like something she would do..."

"You're not alone with that, TK" Izzy said, "If I wasn't there to witness it, she probably would have been my prime suspect, too. To put things into perspective, Cody, our body count per mission tripled, once we added her to the team, back then. And that's not including the casualties our two Mega-Levels usually caused."

"Oh, man!" TK said reminiscing, "That shit was crazy! I was always amazed _we_ survived once WarGreymon started nuking our enemies! I'm surprised Odaiba still exists, after that battle with VenomMyotismon!"

"Let's just get back to shore..." Cody sighed.

* * *

Back in the human world, Cody didn't bother getting back up after exiting the gate. Instead he lay on his side, touching the floor of the computer lab with his hands, as if he was never happier to feel solid (and also _real_) ground beneath him.

TK on the other hand was kneeling on the same ground, gasping for air, while he was laughing at the comedy of errors, he had apparently missed out on.

"I c-can't believe – you left him, stranded on that beach... _stuck in an iceberg!_" he laughed, "He even gave you a r-ride back to shore!"

"And _I_ can't believe..." DemiVeemon growled, "That you started make fun of him for it, right in his fucking face – _until he threatened to kill us all!_"

TK however, was too busy, laughing at the situation, to take his criticism seriously:

"Oh, man – _you're such a hypocrite!_" he cackled.

"Hey, _I _only make fun of people, I know, I can take, one on one!"

"As we established, earlier..." Izzy sighed, rolling his eyes, "That being said, he raises a good point, TK. That's six hundred Yen from you, for the fuck-up-jar."

TK's laughter got stuck in his throat.

"Wha- _six_ hundred?! You said three hundred per fuck up!"

"Yes, and I count two fuck ups, specifically from you!" Izzy said sternly, "One was getting MegaSeadramon to consider, murdering all of you – even after you guys freed him from the spiral! And the other would be, when you went after the Emperor – _alone... _Mind telling us, what exactly it is, you accomplished there?" he added raising his eyebrows.

TK sighed:

"Nothing..."

"_No_" Izzy corrected him irritated, "That would have been fine. But what you accomplished, was giving this douche bag Angemon's data!"

"Okay, I have a counterpoint for this"

"Oh, do you?"

"Yes, but first: How come, he ended up, straight up absorbing Devimon whole, but then he didn't do the same with Angemon? … Or _anyone_, now that I think about it..."

"I think that's because of what the Emperor told you" Izzy contemplated, "It was just Devimon's remains down there. His broken data. What you saw, probably was just a projection of him. If Devimon was alive and functioning – well, for one, he probably would have killed him on the spot – but also, the Emperor probably couldn't have absorbed him, just as he couldn't absorb any of our partners."

"Oh, okay" TK said, "I guess that makes sense."

"So what's your counterpoint?"

"You _told me_ to use Angemon!"

"Only because I saw that none of your other strategies went anywhere..."

"You could have told us to stop!" TK argued, "That it was pointless, too risky and – whatever else you usually say!"

"Okay, point taken! Guess, I shouldn't have trusted in you two, to save the day!"

"Thank you! ….Wait, what?"

"How about this: I'll pay three hundred Yen for that one, too." Izzy suggested, "Since, against my better judgment, I didn't try to stop you there..."

"Holy shit" Tai giggled, "Izzy is actually one of the first people to donate to the fuck-up-jar... didn't see that one coming!"

"I don't see myself beating any of your scores, though..." Izzy said.

"That's fair"

"TK? The money?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

He checked his wallet.

"Uh, I don't have it, right now..." he said awkward, "All I have is five hundred Yen"

"Fine, give it here" Izzy said, "Pay the rest later"

Izzy took the the money from TK and put into his pocket.

"Are you serious?" TK asked in disbelief.

"I'm only keeping it, until we have a proper jar or a box or something!"

"Oh!" Yolei chimed in, "I got a big tin box at home, Izzy-Senpai! We can use that!"

"Sure, bring it with you next time. Oh, and by the way" he added turning to face Davis, "_Your_ first donations will _actually_ go straight into my pocket!"

"Wow" TK chuckled, "Somebody's having a grudge..."

"No, dumbass" DemiVeemon said annoyed, "This is because, he payed off Brainiac's sister, out of his own pocket."

"Yeah..." Izzy muttered, "Three thousand Yen, well spent..."

"Really?" TK asked surprised, "That's it? Thirty bucks for her silence? Man, your sister is selling herself cheap!"

"Yeah!" Davis laughed, "She really is!"

"Would have been even cheaper, if we had Joe, to negotiate down, even further." Izzy said.

"After today, I'd be surprised, if we ever saw him again" Tai said, shaking his head, "You know outside of – funerals and stuff..."

"Believe it or not, I am actually quite satisfied, with the way things turned out with him."

"You're right – I don't believe it"

Izzy ignored him and turned towards Cody.

"Blank, you got the money on you?"

"Yes" the boy said standing up, "I got your laptop, too"

He gave Izzy the yellow laptop and the money he owed.

"Oh, good" Izzy said surprised, plugging it in, opening it up, and hitting the power button.

Nothing happened.

"Huh..." he said, turning device on its side.

Immediately a stream of water poured out of the laptops air vents, and onto the floor.

"Yeah, it's broken" Izzy concluded dry.

"Sorry, Izzy..." Cody said ashamed.

"Eh, it's not your fault" Izzy said reassuringly, "I was only keeping it for nostalgia, anyway. And for that, it still works."

"Really?" Tai smirked, "_You_ have nostalgia?"

Izzy looked at him derogatory.

"Occasionally..." he said calm, "For a select few events... Anyway, apart from the whole Devimon fiasco -"

"Hey, we fucked up that Airdramon pretty good!" TK protested.

"Oh, _well done!_" Yolei spat sarcastically, "Beating up his mind-controlled slave, sounds like a great deed!"

"Oh, shut it, Wannabe!"

"Okay!" Izzy intervened quickly, finishing his point in a single breath:

"Apart from that, I would say, mission accomplished. See you all tomorrow."

"Yeah..." DemiVeemon said, stretching after he stood up, "Fantastic mission. My favorite part was, when we were almost smushed in that fucking clipboard!"

"I was actually referring to the fact, that we wont have to search for these stupid eggs anymore... But, if you wanna count that as a victory, be my guest."

"How was it in there, anyway?" Tai asked curiously.

"Exactly what it sounds like dipshit!"

"No, I mean, what did it look like? I remember seeing our Digimon fighting Diaboromon on the internet. And let me tell you, the internet looks fucking weird on the inside, dude"

"Nah, it didn't look weird or anything" DemiVeemon replied, "We were just up in the sky... somewhere above the oil platform... eh, and everything looked gray."

"You sure?" Yolei asked raising an eyebrow, "I don't remember seeing the platform anywhere!"

"We were there for like a split second!"

"Sure, but it was on fire, I feel like we still would have seen it..."

Kari quietly opened the door and slipped outside.

Staring at the floor, she silently made her way to the school's entrance.

She didn't even notice Gatomon, who she carried in her arms, talking to her – until the cat addressed her more loudly.

"_Hello?_" she said waving her paw in front of the girls face.

"Huh?"

"I said, why are we just leaving like that?"

"Oh, uh..."

Kari fumbled with her words.

"I just didn't wanna talk about this whole clipboard thing anymore, you know?" she said finally.

Gatomon gave her a sad smile.

"Yeah, that was rough" she said, "But look on the bright side: Izzy _really_ didn't sound, like he would wanna put us in there again!"

"You're right..." Kari said with a faint smile.

Gatomon looked at her, concerned.

"Hey... what's wr-"

"_Kari!_"

The turned to see Davis just running around the corner, towards them, wearing his backpack over one shoulder ("_OW! Watch out, jackass!_" they faintly heard DemiVeemon cussing from its inside).

"Ugh!" Gatomon growled, "Can I kill him?"

"Please don't..." Kari replied cringing, "Let me handle him, okay?"

"Fine..." Gatomon sighed, "No promises, though..."

"Hey" Davis said when he caught up to them in the entrance area, "So, what are you up to? Wanna hang out? – Oof!"

His backpack had just kicked him.

"Asswipe!" DemiVeemon barked.

"Davis -" Kari begun, but Davis rambled on:

"Because, you know, uh... we could still go to the movies! Doesn't have to be 'Star Wars'... uh, um – 'Men in Black II' is supposed to be awesome!"

He quickly looked over his shoulder, as if to see, if TK was behind him, ready with a rebuttal.

"Look, Davis..." Kari sighed, "I'm really not in the mood, right now..."

"Oh, okay! I mean... we could just chill and chat a bit, if you want"

Gatomon looked like she was silently gagging.

"No, I don't wanna talk right now, either..."

"Oh, well... What would you like -"

"Hey, Romeo!" Gatomon called out, "Take a fucking hint!"

And to make matters even worse for Davis:

"Hey, sis!" Tai shouted, as he turned around the corner of the hallway himself, "Wanna wait up for me, or anything?"

He spotted Davis.

"Hey, uh..." he spoke with false kindness in his voice (his facial expression told a completely different story), "What's uh... what's going on with you two?"

"Oh! Uh... You see" Davis stammered, "I was just – um... walking past and just... uh, I said goodbye to her!"

"Huh" Tai nodded cold, closing in on Davis, "Kind of a long goodbye..."

"Yeah, you see... I just said bye and - man! She would _not_ stop talking!"

Tai was staring daggers at Davis – meanwhile, Gatomon was pointing her claws _like _daggers at Davis.

"Boy, she is just really chatty!"

"Yeah, she's _super _chatty lately..." he said low, his voice now so drenched in sarcasm, that even Davis got the message:

"Yeah, super chatty – _anywaygottagobye!_" he said lightning-fast, before sprinting out the door.

"Way to go, loser!" DemiVeemon mocked.

"_Shut up!_" Davis sobbed.

"Nice job!" Gatomon said impressed, "I mean, _I_ can't take you seriously, but if I didn't know you, even I would have said that was kind of intimidating."

"Thanks..." Tai said dry, "Anyway, what's with the Irish exit, sis?"

"Irish exit?" Kari asked puzzled, as they exited the building.

"Oh, right. That's when you hang out with friends, and then leave without saying goodbye to anyone."

"Oh... sorry..." Kari said shameful, "I should go back and -"

"Nah!" Tai said relaxed, "Moment's passed. Also, I do that all the time. Didn't think you were the type to pull something like that off. Gotta be real, you're making me so proud!" he added with a fake sob.

"Ha ha..." Kari said quietly.

"What's wrong?" he asked worried.

"Huh? Nothing – just... that whole deal with us in the clipboard and everything..."

"Oh, yeah okay, fair enough" Tai said understanding, "But actually I meant in general."

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, I mean, you _do_ know we got Koromon back, right?"

"Yeah!" Koromon said excited popping his head out of Tai's bag, "And I'm AOK!"

"Yeah, thanks buddy – look, there's people coming our way... can you get back in the bag?"

"Ah, sure! Sorry!" Koromon said, getting back inside.

"Of course I know he's back..." Kari said nearly defiant, "What's your point?"

"Well, you're still kind of – off." Tai elaborated, "I mean, you're usually pretty quiet, but lately? When Koromon was still gone, I got why, but shouldn't you be happier, now?"

"Right, I'm sorry..." she said moping, "I'm just... really tired lately... I don't know why..."

But actually, she did.

"Oh, okay" Tai said.

They fell silent for a moment as they walked down the street, leading back home.

Until Tai had an idea.

"Hey, I know, what will cheer you up"

"What?"

"Odaiba-Day is coming up this Thursday. I know, you real like it, when we do stuff as a group. So, why don't we -"

But he was cut off when his sister let loose an elongated gasp:

"_Our anniversary!_" she called out, her eyes suddenly sparkling with excitement.

"Say what, now?"

"That's August first! That's our anniversary! The day we became DigiDestined!"

"Oh, _yeah_. _That's_ why I figured, that would be a good idea..." Tai realized, "Also, he he... _Our_ anniversary?"

"Oh, shut up!" she said boxing him playfully, "You know what I mean!"

"I gotcha" he chuckled, glad to see her so happy, all over sudden.

"Oh! This is gonna be great!" she swooned over the idea, "We gotta get the whole crew together!"

"Good luck with that!" Tai and Gatomon huffed.

"O-okay, minus Mimi..." Kari said, backpedaling a bit.

"And Joe" Tai added.

"Yeah..."

"And Sora, since I'll be there"

"Oh, come on! Just apologize!"

"I don't even know for _what!_"

"Just make a peace offering – or something! _Please!_ Do _something!_"

"Ugh... see what I can do... but you do realize, Matt hates me just as much, don't you?"

"Aw, come on..."

"And if by 'the whole crew' you mean the rookies, too... We probably shouldn't count on Izzy to show up, either."

"_Stop..._"

"Oh, and I think TK mentioned that he had movie tickets for Thursday, too..."

"Okay, you're doing this on purpose now, aren't you?"


	11. 1 Missed Call

-x-

**Chapter Eleven**

**1 Missed Call**

**...of Cthulhu**

The cold, gray mountain range near the western coast of Server had only very few specks of color scattered across the scenery. One of them was a large, grassy plateau. Resting near the edge, was an enormous rock, as big as a cruise ship.

A gust of wind blew across the field, when suddenly, three ghostly apparitions formed in the middle of the empty patch of land, one red, one green and one gray in the middle. The blurry figures slowly turned clear, as if they approached the focal point of an invisible camera. The shapes moved toward each other and finally merged, to form the image of a cloaked boy with black hair and rectangular shades.

For a moment, the Emperor remained in this phantom like state, walking straight towards the rock, until he seemed to breach an invisible barrier, turning solid again, afterwards.

He had crossed the field halfway when he noticed the worm like Digimon, hurrying toward him.

"There you are!" the worm said.

"Guess so…" the boy muttered mildly annoyed, not even looking at him.

"So... you were at that other place again, huh?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" the Emperor huffed, "The fact I just appeared out of thin air?"

"Yeah, the ghostly apparition thing is kind of a dead giveaway... I was... kind of hoping you wouldn't go there anymore..."

"I have to make sure everything is in check over there. Which it is... not that it's any of your business..."

"Oh, good..." the worm said unsettled, "Glad to hear that... Here too, by the way. Everything's under control."

"Uh huh. How is the kid doing?" the Emperor asked in passing.

"Uh, yeah that's what I wanted to talk about with you" the worm said nervous, "Airdramon is in a bad way, he needs help soon, or else -"

"When have I _ever_ referred to Airdramon as 'the kid'?" the Emperor asked indignantly.

"Oh! _The kid_… right… yeah, right now? Three stories tall, and mad as hell"

"Good…" the Emperor smirked, "That's what I was hoping for…"

"No, for real, I mean, he is _really_ angry!" the worm specified, „If he was ready, yet, I'd say he'd probably trash the fortress, right now!"

"Excellent. I'll make him put all that extra energy to good use…"

They reached the rock. The Emperor swiped his D3 across its surface, and suddenly a metal door with a key pad appeared. He entered a four digit code, and the door opened.

"Speaking of putting him to use…" the worm started anxiously, as they entered the secret base "What exactly is your plan with him?"

"Seriously? You haven't caught on, yet? Man, even for you, that's slow…"

"I mean, I _know_ what the end goal is -"

"Then you should _know_, that the bitch has control over the towers!" the Emperor cut in, "Kind of impractical, wouldn't you say?"

"Sure, I get it, I get it… but what about the Evil Spiral?"

"It's still just mind-control! You saw, how easily those morons destroyed them, before! All of them could be turned against me in a heartbeat! No… I need a reliable ally, at the front line, for this… I know _you_ wouldn't take that job…"

"I don't know how to feel about this…" the worm said, "And I know, what you're gonna say: 'Shut the fuck up, unless you got a better idea!'"

The Emperor laughed.

"Yeah, sounds about right" he giggled low.

"But I actually have one that could work."

They walked down a long, dimly lit, metal corridor.

The Emperor sighed.

"Fine, I'll bite… What is it?"

"Now, hear me out, here: We could team up with those kids, and take care of the problem like that!"

"Is that the whole plan? Because, I have a sneaking suspicion, my whip has an interesting rebuttal to that one…"

"Just think about it -"

"No!" the Emperor said stern, "_I_ am the ruler of this world! Me! No one else! And I don't need the help of a bunch of retards, to earn my throne! If anything, I would probably kill them first, before I make my move… That reminds me: Is there like a respawn option for humans, too? Or are we just out when we die?"

"Um… you're_… out…_" the worm said, horrified by the boy's choice of words.

"I thought so" the Emperor said contemplating, "Looks like I only have to kill them once, huh? Convenient… but on a related note, I probably shouldn't lead the assault on her then…"

"Yeah!" the worm said eager, "Definitely not. Too risky. I mean, I'm always kinda nervous when you're out to fight those kids head on…"

"Oh, please!" the Emperor huffed, "I wouldn't worry about getting as much as a bruise, fighting them, even if that annoying girl _wasn't_ constantly yelling at them, not to kill anyone…"

"Think about it; the more real allies we have, the better are our chances -"

"I said no!"

He grabbed his whip, and struck the worm with it, making him squeal in pain:

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Please stop!"

"Good!" the kid growled and entered a room to the right.

It was a small control room overlooking a large chamber. He hit a few buttons on the control panel, and something large appeared in the middle of the chamber.

The Emperor smirked upon seeing it.

"Very good..." he said satisfied, "At least you learned to hide him again, after you check on him." he added somewhat sharp towards the worm.

"Yeah... after the last whipping, it kinda sunk in... You think it's save?"

"Eh, he's well hidden. Usually at least..." he added grumpy.

"I don't know, man..."

"Oh, don't shit yourself! I already have a plan. We're gonna move fast, and squish her like the bug she is..."

"Uh, actually, I think she's more of a -"

"Quiet!" the boy barked.

He fell silent staring down into the chamber.

"Hmm..." the boy said contemplating, "Something's still missing..."

He typed on the panel, and the thing disappeared. He turned around on his heels, and left the room.

"What do you mean?" the worm asked.

The boy didn't answer.

Quickly he walked down the corridor, and into another room. It was another large chamber. In the middle of the room, was Airdramon, laying on his side, and breathing labored. There was a large crack in his skull, where Angemon's last attack had hit him.

"He needs help fast." the worm said concerned, "I figure we need medicine, most of all and some -"

"Shut up"

The boy stepped forward, and pointed his D3 at the dragon. He started to absorb his data.

"_Um!_" the worm said alarmed, "I don't think you should do that! Remember what happened with that beat up Kuwagamon -?"

"Yup" the Emperor said cold, "He died."

"Yes! Look at him! He won't survive that!"

"Too bad..." he sighed (although he didn't sound saddened, at all), "I really liked the intimidation factor..."

* * *

2 am again.

Kari exhaled quietly and looked at the ceiling again. Another night on the couch. Trying to forget what she dreamed about.

Tai's face entered her field of vision, upside down, as he stood behind the couch. She jumped slightly.

"Sis" he sighed, "We gotta stop meeting like this..."

"Sorry..." she muttered.

"Kari, this is the second time in two weeks, I found you, sitting on the couch, staring at the ceiling, at 2 am. It's starting to creep me out!"

Kari remained silent.

"What's going on?" he insisted, sitting down next to her.

"Couldn't sleep..."

"Yes, Captain Obvious!" Tai muttered rolling his eyes, "Whatever would we do without you?"

"I had a nightmare, okay?" Kari hissed.

"Okay! Something to work with!"

He sat up and looked her straight in the eyes.

"What was it about?"

"I..." she mumbled, "- I don't wanna talk about it..."

"Well, talking about stuff like this, often helps me out. _You should try that sometimes, sis..._" he added growling.

"Fine..." she said, now sitting up, as well, "I was..." she began a little shaky before taking a deep breath, "I was at this beach. And... everything was black and white... no colors anywhere... not even on me... And then there was the ocean... it was black. And there was this lighthouse. But there was no light coming from it – the light beams looked black. As if the colors where inverted or something..."

"Wait, I'm confused" Tai cut in quietly, "Were the colors inverted, or were there no colors at all?"

"No, it was just the light from the lighthouse. It was black instead of white..."

"Oh, gotcha... wait, how does that even work?"

"I don't know..." Kari whispered, "And then there was this voice... calling to me... from the water..."

Tai watched in silence as his sister remembered the experience.

"I couldn't move... Only towards the water... Nowhere else..."

She stopped, then she noticed her brother watching her closely.

"That's it." she said softly, "I woke up after that."

"_That's it?_" Tai huffed, "I thought something really creepy would happen, at the end! That was just lame!"

"No, it wasn't!"

"Yes, it was.

"It was really eerie!"

"Oh, really? Wanna hear about one I had that actually _was_ creepy?"

"Sure..." she sighed, having a feeling, that their opinions, on what was creepy and what wasn't, seemed to differ.

"So, we're at home, right? And outside there's a zombie-apocalypse going on. And Mom and Dad were infected and tried to kill us. So, I ended up, having to kill them. But then I realized that you had been bitten... so... I... had to kill you, too..."

In shock, Kari stared at her brother.

"_Oh, my god!_" she said, having trouble, keeping her voice down.

Tai, meanwhile, stared blankly ahead.

"Did..." Kari started, hesitatingly, "Did talking about that, help?"

"Doesn't feel like it"

"Right... That's horrifying!"

"Tell me about it..." Tai said crossing his arms, "Told you yours was lame..."

"It's not!" Kari protested.

"It is. Why do you let this get to you so much? It's just some stupid dream about the clipboard. Big deal!"

"Right..." she mumbled, "The clipboard... But wait, that was yesterdays mission! Shouldn't I dream about today's mission? Since it's fresh on my mind and everything?"

"Well, for starters, today's mission didn't happen yet, because it's two in the fucking morning!"

"You know what I mean!"

"Also, you're saying, you _didn't_ dream about last mission? Stop the fucking presses..." Tai added sarcastically; Their last mission had been so uneventful, that Tai had fallen asleep at multiple points.

"Well, we almost died near the end..." Kari muttered defiantly, "So there was potential there..."

"That's _every _mission, sis!" Tai countered, "Coming to think of it, though: You guy's suck at recon missions."

"Yeah..."

Since Izzy was still eager to take over the industrial area, and thus win Andromon, as a powerful ally, he had send the team there to gather intel, in preparation. Tai would later claim, the mission was so sleep inducing, he had feared at one point, dozing off again could mean, he would never wake up.

"Oh, and since your missions are such a blast to watch, recently, I might sit next one out."

"That's sudden" Kari said taken aback.

"Well, my last term for tomorrow was canceled. So, I'm thinking of going straight home and taking a nap instead. Would be nice, if I could do that _now..._" he added grumpy.

"You wanted me to tell you about my dream!"

"_No_, I wanted you to stop worrying about lame nightmares like this, and get a good night's sleep!"

"Why do you keep calling it lame?" Kari hissed quietly, "It was really creepy!"

"Well, why do _you _get so worked up about the most boring nightmare of all time?"

"Well, I - ! Oh... you mean..."

"Finally... looks like it's sinking in." Tai said eye-rolling, "It's not real! Don't let it get to you so much!" he continued, nudging her arm with his elbow, "Why would this lame-ass bullshit be worth getting fucking sleep deprived over?"

"You're right..." Kari said softly, although she didn't sound quite convinced, yet.

"Just don't think about that anymore." he said putting a hand on her shoulder, and smiling reassuringly, "Go to bed, okay?"

"Okay" she whispered nodding.

The siblings stood up and approached their rooms. At the door to her room, Kari stopped.

"Tai?" she asked.

He turned to looked at her.

"Can... can I stay in your room tonight?"

"What?" Tai asked, taken aback, and raised an eyebrow.

"I just... I know it's silly, but -"

"Uh... why do you have to make this weird?"

"Ugh! I'm not asking you to share you're bed with me!" Kari said, now rolling her eyes, too, "You still have the bunks, I'll just take the top one. What's so weird about that?"

"There's probably so much shit, you could read into that..."

"Please... I... I really don't wanna be alone, right now..." she said sheepishly.

Tai's facial expression softened at that statement.

"Fine..." he sighed, opening his door to let her in, "But you explain that shit to Mom and Dad at breakfast!"

Kari smiled a little, but remained silent.

He would worry too much. She knew that.

That's why she couldn't tell him.

She couldn't tell him, it was a recurring nightmare.

One, she was having for more than a week.

* * *

On the walk to school, the next morning, Kari felt optimistic. The sun was shining, her brother made sure she was in a good mood, by cracking jokes the entire way – it felt like it was going to be a good day.

That was until they reached the school; Now the siblings had to split up. Kari entered the building, making her way through the somewhat dark, almost gloomy hallways. The further she walked, the more it felt like the colors were being drained. Despite all the noise in the hallways, she could hear a voice whispering her name. Over and over. Yet, nobody here was talking to her.

Distraught, she looked around, anxiously looking for a familiar face she could cling to.

For someone to pull her out of this...

She got lucky when she passed the computer lab: Shooting a frantic look inside, she saw Izzy standing at a desk, working on his laptop. She breathed a sigh of relief and entered the room to join him.

"Hey, Izzy" she said softly.

He looked up.

"Oh, hey"

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for Wannabe" he explained, "Since she forgot to bring the box for our funds, yesterday, I told her to bring it today. She wanted to meet before classes start, for some reason."

"Oh, okay..."

The conversation trailed off. A wave of panic washed over her, as she feared, the awkward silence would last long enough to force her to leave.

"But it's a good thing you're here, right now" he said (Kari had trouble keeping quiet, while she triumphed internally), "I was doing some research, and I need your help, real quick"

"Research?" she asked curiously, stepping forward to look over his shoulder, onto the screen.

"Yes" he said calmly, "I was trying to find out, who could potentially be the Emperors partner. I have an idea, who it could be, but I have never seen that candidate. So, help me out here, when you first encountered the Emperor, there was a rookie-level the Emperor clearly didn't want to be there."

"Um..."

"If it helps, TK's reaction was laughing at it, and saying, and I quote 'What the fuck is that?'."

"Oh, right!" Kari said recollecting, "Yeah, it was a small green worm."

"Hm... is that so..." he said typing rapidly, "Let's see... 'Worm'..."

"Uh, you sure?"

"Look at our track record" Izzy said in passing, "So far every new recruit we had, was apparently named, by quickly glancing at them. Well – except for Veemon, but you get the idea. Although, now that I think about it... maybe him too."

A list of search results opened up on his screen.

"Oh!" Kari said pointing at the very first entry, showing the green worm they had seen that day, "That's him!"

"See?"

"So, can you figure out who he is, now that we know who his partner is?"

"Eh... maybe." he contemplated, "We could gather intel, about this Wormmon. Quite possible, there's nothing there, though. Didn't find anything on Veemon, either. So much for the claim, that he was a big dog, back in the day..." he added facetiously.

"Morning, Izzy-Senpai!"

Yolei came basically floating in, carrying Poromon in her arms.

"Hi, Kari" she added beaming once she spotted the other girl.

"Hey" Kari replied with a smile.

"Morning..." Izzy said plainly, "You got it?"

"Yeah, sure" she said, quickly opening her bag. She tried pulling out a big tin box, that was wedged in there, but ended up dropping one of her schoolbooks on the floor instead. A small piece of paper slipped out from between the pages, and sailed to the floor. It looked like it was cut out of a magazine; colors dominated the piece and there was some text on, what Kari assumed was its backside.

"I got it" Izzy said calmly and picked it up.

He glanced at the side of the piece that had landed facedown, and shot Yolei a look with his eyebrows raised.

"You cut out a picture of him?" he asked puzzled and showed the photograph of a boy roughly Kari's age, with black hair in a bowl cut framing his face just like hers.

"Who's that?" Kari asked.

"It's that Ichijouji kid" Izzy said disinterested, passing the paper back to Yolei, "Turns out, I'm not the only one she is fangirling over…"

"Oh, he is _such_ a dream!" she squealed, "Also he is supposed to be a genius like you, Izzy-Senpai! He is just so perfect!"

"I wouldn't call him a genius" Izzy said cool, not even acknowledging the fact, that Yolei just called him a genius, too.

"But he was top of his year in the exams five times in a row!"

"I hear that was an average year, at best…" Izzy said unimpressed.

"He skipped two full school years, though!"

"And look what rank he is, now."

"Well, rank two but – obviously you're his competition, now. So -"

"Oh, kiss my ass another time!" Izzy said annoyed, "Just hand me the box, will you?"

Kari giggled softly and glanced out the window. She froze. For a moment, she thought she saw an ocean just outside the window. A black ocean. She blinked, and it was gone. She stared ahead, once more lost in her thoughts.

She didn't hear Izzy talking to her.

"Uh, Kari?" he said, when she didn't react.

"Huh?" she said quietly, snapping out of it.

"Don't worry, I got it" Yolei said walking past her and closing the door to the lab, "Are you okay? You look pale."

"Yeah" Kari said quickly, "Just tired… That's all."

"I do hope, I don't have to tell you this" Izzy said stern, "But do not adapt your brother's sleeping habits! You're smarter than that."

"Don't worry, I won't…"

Yolei walked over to Izzy, and with a shy expression on her face, she pulled a big tin box out of her bag and handed it over to Izzy.

He stared at it.

The box had numerous cartoon cat faces plastered all over it.

"Are you serious?" he asked deadpanned, "_A 'Hello Kitty' box?_"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Yolei said defensive, "I couldn't find the one I was thinking of, so I brought this one instead…"

"Ugh… well, on the plus side, I suppose nobody would assume there's money inside… Makes hiding it a lot easier."

"Thanks Izzy-Senpai!" Yolei said happy.

"For what? Are you saying this was part of your plan, all along?"

"No…"

"Come on, now" Poromon stepped in, defending his partner, "She did exactly what you asked her to do!"

Izzy sighed.

"You know what? You're right; ignoring how ridiculous this is, good job, Wannabe"

"Thank you, Izzy-Senpai" Yolei said tearing up.

"That didn't sound much better…" Poromon said.

The bell rang.

"Thank fuck…" Izzy mumbled under his breath, "Okay guys, see you later" he added quickly.

He put his laptop under his arm and hurried out.

"See you soon" Yolei said cheerful as they exited the room and headed off in different directions.

"Later" Kari said, as she walked away.

She was on her own again. She hurried to her classroom. Again everything felt desaturated and cold. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Hey, watch it!"

Surprised, she opened her eyes.

It was TK.

"Oh! Sorry..." she said embarrassed, yet happy to see him.

"What did you close your eyes for?" he asked mystified by her behavior.

"I - uh... it's not important. What's up, TK?"

"Keeping my distance from Brainiac" he replied with a shrug.

"How's that going?" Kari asked, simply glad to be distracted from her surroundings.

"Well, so far amazing" TK said and sounded surprised himself, "Looks like he doesn't wanna talk to me either. So, I'm not complaining."

"He keeps looking over here, though..." Kari pointed out.

"Yeah, I said 'so far', didn't I? Wanna know why? Because you weren't there."

"You just had to phrase it like that, didn't you?"

"Come on, sometimes you gotta go for the low hanging fruits, too."

"True"

"I really hope he won't come over here, though."

"Oh, come on. He's not _that _bad!"

"If you say so..." TK sighed, "But his backpack keeps moving from time to time, so..."

"Oh..."

Their talk was interrupted, when their teacher, Ms. Iino, walked past them. She was in her mid forties, with glasses, her graying hair kept in a bun.

"Students, inside." she ordered in a harsh tone.

The pair exchanged a glance, before shooting Davis a look, and finally, following their classmates inside.

Class was mostly uneventful at first. Ms. Iino's almost militaristic approach to teaching, kept Kari mostly distracted from her fears.

However, her discomfort was growing steadily, and she had already decided not to look out the window, afraid of what she might end up seeing beyond the fragile glass.

So instead, whenever she wasn't preoccupied with one of her teachers almost absurdly difficult tasks, she chose to focus on her friends.

They were her anchors, keeping her from going adrift. The metaphor unnerved her, so she pushed it aside, and focused on TK.

He was idly drawing something on a piece of paper. The more she watched the more violent his drawing appeared to be, for some reason. It looked like slashing. Slashing... leaving marks on the paper like wounds... She shuddered and looked away.

Davis on the other hand was practicing, what could only be described as the polar opposite of entertainment; he sat there, a few rows in front of her, resting his head on his hand and staring blankly ahead. She decided that he wasn't helpful, in keeping her distracted.

Her glance found his bag, which was moving subtly, every now and then. Part of her wished, Digimon were not a secret to be kept, so DemiVeemon could just jump out, and roast her for a while. She would have laughed at how ridiculous it was, that she would prefer _that _over her current circumstances, but another unwelcome thought crept into her mind: What if, there was something else in that bag... something sinister. In her mind the image of a small ghoulish creature manifested. An evil being, only intend on killing who ever discovered it in its hiding place - _So basically DemiVeemon_, she thought and almost had to laugh. But not for long. Because the image in her head became clearer... more detailed... more gruesome...

She forced her eyes shut and shook her head, as if to try to shake off this gloomy mindset.

"Yagami" Ms. Iino called out, "Do you have something to add, to what I just said?"

"No, ma'am!" Kari said startled, "Nothing at all..."

She quickly glanced around the room before lowering her head again; She saw both Davis and TK looking at her, concerned.

When she looked down, she saw something else, something new: Water spreading out across the floor. She looked toward the door and saw the liquid poring out from under its gap. She felt dizzy... her vision was blurry... finally, the room tilted...

...and everything turned black.

"Yagami!"

Her eyes snapped open. She was on the floor, Ms. Iino standing over her, eyebrows furrowed. The rest of the class had formed a circle around her, looking down at her, most of them concerned, others just curious. The girl that was usually sitting to her left, was holding her from behind. Apparently she had caught her before she hit the floor. On the bright side, the water was now gone.

"I'm okay..." she said immediately and blushed.

She hated being the center of attention like that. So, she stood up, to show them she was fine – she only managed to, because the other girl was helping her.

"Clearly" Ms. Iino said unimpressed, "You're going to the infirmary. Now."

"No, listen... I'm not –"

"I need one of you to escort her there. I don't see her making it on her own."

Davis and TK immediately raised there hands.

Davis growled and glared at him, while TK just rolled his eyes, at how jealous he was.

"Good. Takaishi, you go with her." Ms. Iino commanded, "The rest of you, sit back down. Class is resuming."

"But -" Davis said upset, "Why him? I volunteered, too!"

"Yes, but you just want an excuse to leave the classroom, as usual. So, you're staying."

"But I know her, too!"

"Oh, in that case why don't we all escort her then?" the teacher snapped sarcastically, "Since we all know her."

The class laughed, and Kari was certain, she could hear DemiVeemon calling Davis an idiot, from inside the bag.

"But -!"

"Sit back down, Motomiya" Ms. Iino said dismissively.

Davis cussed under his breath, but complied.

TK and Kari left the room, and as soon as he closed the door, she saw more water creeping along the floor of the hallway. With growing suspicion, she decided to find out what was happening. She hurried (as fast as she could despite her dizziness) away from the classroom and towards the computer lab.

"What are you doing?" TK hissed confused, jogging after her (she wasn't going very fast), "Infirmary is the other direction!"

"Come on, this is more important" she said, "We gotta investigate!"

"What are you talking about?" he asked and sounded concerned.

"Well, somebody opened the gate!" she explained breathlessly.

"What? I didn't hear a fucking tidal wave destroying the hallway again!"

"What do you mean? Look at all the water!"

"What water?"

Kari slowed down.

"But..." she said nervous, "There's water all over the..."

She looked down. She couldn't see the floor beneath her. The water was black like ink.

"Floor..." she finished her thought unable to look away from the floor. For some reason, it hadn't even crossed her mind, that this might not be a result of the gate being opened.

"Kari..." TK said scared, "What's going on?"

He sounded legitimately scared.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement.

She turned.

There was the missing tidal wave, TK was talking about.

Blackened.

Rushing towards them.

"No..." she said faintly, "Please don't..."

She closed her eyes, and braced for impact - only to be caught by TK, who grabbed her by the shoulders in order to keep her upright.

"Hey, hey, _hey!_" he said distressed, and held her.

She opened her eyes, again. The wave was gone.

"Wha..."

She could barely talk.

"Come on..." TK said uneasy, and turned her around, "I'll get you to the nurse"

"Thank you..." she mumbled unable to keep her eyes open.

Slowly they made there way towards the infirmary. TK supported Kari, since it was clear she couldn't walk on her own.

"TK..." Kari whispered, looking up at her friend.

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Tai..." she muttered quietly, closing her eyes again and letting her head slump against his shoulder.

TK nodded.

"Sure thing" he said.

But he couldn't help, but wonder: _Did she just make a Spider-Man reference? - No! Stay focused! This is more important!_

* * *

"Well, so much for the mission." Izzy said mildly annoyed.

He and the rookies had already assembled in the computer lab, when TK had sent him an e-mail.

"What do you mean?" Yolei asked.

"Kari is sick and TK is taking her home, right now."

"Oh..." Yolei said saddened.

"I hope she's gonna be okay" Cody added.

"Eh, it happens from time to time." Izzy shrugged, "She was always sickly. Back in the day, she had a fever, and almost died on us. Mostly because we were in the Digital World - you know, the least helpful place, since... well, every customer support call center, ever..."

"So now what?" DemiVeemon asked.

"Nothing" Izzy said plainly.

"Nothing?"

"We need everybody, for the industrial area." Izzy explained, "We need to take it next try. It's just too important. We need Gatomon and backup, in case she devolves again – that means Kari, by the way"

"Ugh, shit..." DemiVeemon muttered, "Fine..."

"Relax" Izzy said confidently, "At least that means a day off for you guys."

"Sure, but tomorrow is your anniversary, remember?" Yolei said.

"Oh, that's right... that was a thing, too..."

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Might have to cancel that shit."

"But Kari seemed so excited about that!" Upamon argued.

"She'll get over it. I don't think, we can afford to take two days off in a row... "

"Wouldn't be the first time..." DemiVeemon huffed.

"Well, if you recall, the first time I didn't know we were on the clock, yet, because Agumon got captured in that time frame. Also, at that point, it seemed near impossible, to make an appointment with you guys over the weekend!"

"I'm sorry!" Yolei said, "It was all going so fast, I already had plans!"

"And the second time" Izzy resumed without paying attention to her, "Was when two of our key team-members got hospitalized. This one we can avoid, so let's do that."

"I don't know, man" DemiVeemon said, crossing his arms, "I think that would be a really good opportunity for some team building"

Yolei glared at him, suspiciously.

"_What is it now?_" DemiVeemon growled, not even looking at her.

"That's funny coming from _you..._"

"_Look, I am TRYING, OKAY!?_" he yelled, "_Can you get THE FUCK off my back?!_"

"Okay, whatever" Izzy said, "We can try, but I'll monitor the Digital World closely. The instance something of importance happens we might have to drop everything, and go on an impromptu mission"

"Yeah, because the last one went so great..." DemiVeemon said, referring to the oil platform.

"True, but our last trip to the industrial area, didn't do us any favors either." Izzy pointed out, "And for that one we actually had a plan, remember?"

"Yeah, but the plan was 'do something you clearly suck at'." DemiVeemon argued, "Call me crazy, but I don't see the difference between a plan that sucks, and having no plan at all."

"Tread lightly, alright?" Izzy said threateningly, "Also, we took down that one tower, as planned. So, no: It wasn't all a waste of time."

Upamon said:

"Uh, to be fair, I was aiming for one of the Mekanorimon, and I kinda hit it by accident."

"Never mind then..."

"But wait, does that mean you're coming with us tomorrow, Izzy-Senpai?"

"I suppose so..."

Izzy sounded about as excited, as someone who was about to go to prison, for the first time.

"What?" DemiVeemon asked in disbelief, "I thought, you'd go to the other end of town, or something."

"Why would you figure that?" Izzy asked emotionless.

"I don't know, because you hate us and shit?"

"I don't hate you guys" Izzy clarified, "At least not – _all _of you"

"Very reassuring... " Cody muttered.

"For the record, Cody, your not among the ones, I hate."

"Thanks" Cody said quietly, while Yolei looked at Izzy, anxiously.

"Also" Izzy continued, "I wanna keep an eye on all of you, just in case."

"Right, what the hell is supposed to happen in your boring-ass world, anyways?" DemiVeemon huffed.

"You'd be surprised…" Izzy said grim, "Strange things tend to happen, when a bunch of us hang out together… I would like to claim, that's the reason, we never do that… That it's all calculated, but – I assume, I couldn't even fool you guys with that one…"

"Thanks" DemiVeemon said grumpy.

"So..." Davis said somewhat awkwardly, "The mission is... off then?"

Izzy turned to face him, leaned back in his chair, and looked at him skeptically:

"Guess" he demanded.

"Um... I mean..."

"It's off!" Izzy said with a dismissive gesture, and turned away again, to look at his screen.

The rookies did not leave, though. Instead, they looked at him, expectantly.

He looked over his shoulder.

"What are you waiting for? I'm not walking home with you people."

The rookies exchanged a somewhat disgruntled murmur, and went to leave.

"You're mean..." Upamon said pouting.

"And _you_ are still alive..." Izzy said unfazed, "From your perspective, that seems to be a nice trade-off, wouldn't you agree? Now, stop complaining, you just got an extra day off, after all. That is - unless something crazy happens of course..."

**Ten minutes later.**

Izzy had just left the school grounds, and turned to his right, to make his way home, when behind him, TK sprinted around the corner, Kari's schoolbag in hand, and an expression of sheer panic on his face.

"Doc! DOC!"

"TK..." Izzy sighed, "You gotta stop with these Back to the Future references. They stopped being funny after the first ten-_thousand _times!"

"Sorry!" he said breathlessly when he caught up to the redhead, "Force of habit - You gotta help me, man! Something crazy just happened!"

"You just had to phrase it like that, huh?"

"It's Kari! She's gone!"

"What do you mean _gone?_"

"I mean she vanished into fucking thin air!"

"Oh, great... we're getting abducted by the Digital World again..." Izzy said dry, turning around on his heels, and the pair returned to the school, "And there I was, hoping we were past that shit... Alright, let's send you in, to get her, then. I'm gonna contact Gatomon and Patamon just in case you need support."

"Right... Wait, they have a Digivice with them?"

"Of course they do."

"Yeah but – you never give yours away. Who's do they have?"

"Joe's"

"_What?_" TK asked incredulously, "_Seriously?_"

"I told him I needed it for some tests – which – wasn't even a lie. Funny, I didn't notice... Anyway, he didn't ask for it back, yet, which is good thing, because it means, Gomamon hasn't convinced him to rob a bank with him, yet"

"True" TK said, nodding in agreement.

* * *

"Please! Please stop! I don't know anything, _I swear!_"

"_Bullshit!_"

The Numemon screamed in pain when Gatomon brutally hit him with her paw. She was holding two of them hostage in an abandoned building near the outskirts of Temp City. She had both of them tied to pipes on opposing sides of the room. She had already beaten one of them half-unconscious, and now it was time for the other one to talk.

"Tell me where they are!" she demanded raising one of her claws, "_Now!_" she said, stabbing it into the lower parts of his body, simultaneously.

"_Alright!_ Alright, I'll tell you! Just please _sto-o-op!_" he sobbed in pain.

Gatomon opened the small bag she had with her, and pulled out a map and a pen.

"Alright" she smirked, "Mind pointing it out to me?" she asked and rammed the pen into his stomach.

"OW! _WHY?_"

"Well, I got you tied up." she argued, "How are you supposed to point it out to me, with your hands behind your back?"

"You could have - put it in my mouth" he croaked in pain.

"Oh, right... well, too late, now."

She held up the map in front of him. Shakily he pointed the pen at an amusement park near Dev Lagoon.

"Right here?" she asked pointing at the location herself, "Whoa, don't draw on it! I saw what you pointed at. Mind giving me my pen back?"

"I c-can't... j-just - take it"

She sighed and pulled the pen back out.

"Just stop whining, alright? You guys are all slime anyways." she said annoyed and walked over to the other Numemon - and an evil grin spread across her face.

"Now you. It better match or one of you is gonna _die!_" she said merrily, almost singing the last word.

She had almost reached her target, when she heard a soft beep.

"Gatomon?" Izzy said.

"Uh, bad timing, Izzy." she said, as she rammed the pen into the other Numemon's guts.

"_Ow!_" he whined, "We talked about this!"

"Shut up, I'm on the phone" she hushed him in passing.

"What the hell is she doing?" TK asked.

"Hey, are we in a conference-call, again?" she asked reproachful, "You gotta tell me, man!"

"It's just me and TK. He raises a good point, though: What _are_ you doing?"

"Uh, reconnaissance?"

"The thing you said, you'd only ever do again when the Dark Ocean freezes over?" TK asked dry, "I still don't get, what that means, by the way."

"I _meant _recon work with you guys!" Gatomon clarified, "On my own I'm good at this, with you guys it's such a massive train wreck, it almost loops back around to be considered abstract art!"

"Speaking of train wrecks" Izzy said, "Mind explaining to us why you're not with Patamon?"

"Hang on, did you just call Patamon a train wreck?" TK asked.

"No, dumbass!" Gatomon hissed, "He called us two, trying to stick together, a train wreck."

"People understand what I'm trying to say for once... what a breath of fresh air..."

"By the way" Gatomon added, "He's good at hiding. He found a safe place."

"Funny, TK just found him flying around in the streets of the city."

"I told him to keep a low profile!"

"You just ditched him, didn't you?" Izzy asked with a sigh.

"Well, yeah..." Gatomon admitted, "but I told him to keep a low profile!"

"God dammit, Gatomon!" TK yelled, "Remember what happened with Agumon?"

"No, I _completely_ forgot..."

"_Un-fucking-believable!_"

"Hey, can you boot him from the call?" Gatomon asked annoyed, "I'll see 'em in a minute anyway."

"Nah, I don't see the point."

"_Come on, Izzy_" Gatomon insisted, with her tone all but suggesting, that she wanted to talk to him privately, "I _really_ don't wanna talk to him, right now!"

"Alright, I gotcha..."

"_What?_" TK shouted.

"Calm down, I can still hear you."

The cussing on TK's end got cut off.

"So how is your... _reconnaissance_ going?"

"Drop the air-quotes, will you? This is important, too"

"Debatable..."

"But since you asked." she said, while roughly ripping the pen out of the Numemon, "Pretty good"

She stood back up and glared at the Numemon in front of her while slowly cracking her neck.

"Think I got a new lead, finally" she added, staring down her hostage threateningly, "Shame we have to cut the interrogation short, though"

She took a step closer to him.

"_Wait, wait, wait!_" he begged in a panic, "I-I can show you right, now! I-it won't even take a second! You need confirmation, you said so yourself!"

"Nah, it's alright" Gatomon said, pointing her claws at the Numemon, "I believe him" she added cold.

"No,_ please!_"

But Gatomon raised her paw – before bursting into laughter.

"I'm just fucking with you!" she giggled, and turned to leave, "Alright, guys! Have a good one! See you later!"

And before either of them could say anything, she had already left the room and slammed the door shut.

* * *

"Come on, it wasn't _that _fucked up" Gatomon defended her interrogation tactics.

"It sounded _really _fucked up!" TK said, not having any of it.

After Gatomon had met up with him and Patamon, they made their way into the desert, to where Izzy had spotted Kari's dot on the map.

"Cut me some slack, okay?" Gatomon argued, "You try being nice, while questioning someone, when all your life, you got the answers you needed, by being an absolute dick!"

"Uh huh... got any more ways of saying 'old habits die hard'?" TK asked dry, "Because that excuse still sucks, after three years. Or, you know what? Try using it another ten-billion times. Maybe it'll age better, then!"

"Shut it..."

"Also you were supposed to get intel!" TK continued, "Why the fuck did you jump to torture _immediately?_"

"Trust me, TK; These guys had it coming. They were basically criminals!"

"Criminals my ass..." TK muttered.

"Just... don't tell Kari about this alright?"

"What's in it for me?"

"Uh, I'm not gonna kill you in your sleep, _that's _what's in it for you -"

"Whoa!" Patamon said taken aback.

"What the _fuck_, Gatomon?" TK exclaimed.

"Now, that was just uncalled for." Izzy joined in.

"Guys, I was joking, relax!"

"Very fucking funny..." TK said deadpanned.

"_Too far_, Gatomon" Patamon said, shaking his head.

"I do _not _wanna have another talk about death threats for your team mates, you know?" Izzy said.

"_Okay_, I get it! _Jeez..._" Gatomon growled annoyed, "Shouldn't we be there, by now, Izzy? I thought, you said, it wasn't too far?"

"Yes, you should see her by now" Izzy said, a hint of nervosity in his voice, "Look around, maybe she isn't exactly straight ahead..."

"It's a flat fucking desert!" Gatomon said, "Why _wouldn't _we see anyone standing around here?"

"Shit, maybe she collapsed again..." TK contemplated.

"Collapse? _Again? _What is going with her?" Gatomon asked, now worried for her partners wellbeing.

"She told me she had weird flashes of the clipboard... or something" TK explained.

"Would you _kindly _rule out the 'or something'-part?" Izzy said irritated, "Be more specific! She might need our help now!"

"I don't know, she was really out of it. At one point she thought, the hallways were flooded, and she kept having that thousand-yard-stare. I thought she was just sleep-deprived, but when I brought her home, at some point, she suddenly mumbled something about an ocean, and walked across the street like a zombie. I thought she was about to get hit by a truck, but then she suddenly, like... fuzzed out - and vanished!"

"Did she say anything, why she was acting like that?" Izzy asked, "She told me she was tired, did she tell you why?"

"How is that important?"

"Might give us some hints where she _actually _went"

"What do you mean? I thought she was close by?"

"Closer than you might think" Izzy said, "Stop now, and you are essentially on top of her."

"But -"

The trio looked around.

"Maybe she's underground?" Gatomon suggested.

"According to my data, she's supposed to be at sea-level."

"So, how much higher up are we?"

"You're not. Right now, you're four feet _below _sea-level"

TK opened his mouth in confusion. He hesitated, then he looked up.

"What, are you an idiot?" Gatomon asked vexed, "You think we wouldn't have seen her, if she was levitating four feet in the air?"

"Yeah... I'm starting to think she's not in the Digital World" Izzy said now definitely nervous, "Did she mention if she has seen these images of the clipboard, or whatever it is, before?"

"Uh, yeah she told me about a lame nightmare she had. Something about a beach and everything was black and white."

TK shrugged.

"Sounded like the clipboard to me. But, wait - she isn't - _there_... is she?"

"Fuck... I don't know..." Izzy said anxious, "I hoped it was just an error when I couldn't talk to her, over the network, but now..."

"You know, to me that doesn't sound like the clipboard necessarily..." Gatomon said, and now she sounded uneasy, too.

"What do you mean? That sounds _exactly_ like the clipboard!" TK argued.

"To you maybe" she said, "To me it sounds like... fuck no. Can't be..."

"Like what?" TK asked irritated, "Come on, Gatomon! Spill it!"

"Fuck I hope I'm wrong..."

Gatomon took a deep breath:

"She might be at the Dark Ocean."

"There it is again!" TK said annoyed, "What the hell is this Dark Ocean supposed to be?"

"Yeah, um... 'hell' might be right on the money, there" she said unsettled, "There are stories about some sort of other dimension. Some Digimon claim they have had visions about a black ocean in a world that's entirely black and white. And after they had those visions, some of them vanished and never returned."

"Fuck..." TK said, turning pale.

"Question for all of you" Izzy said, "Would you say, the clipboard matches that description?"

"Wait, that could be!" Gatomon said, her eyes lighting up, "Maybe they're one and the same! That means, we have a way to get to her!"

"Potentially..." Izzy said slowly - he almost sounded shaky.

"What?" Gatomon asked, "What's the matter?"

"You do remember what almost happened to you, when I briefly put you there, right?"

"Oh, no..." she said wide-eyed.

"W-wait!" TK said hectically, "You have the signal of her D3, though! If she - I mean... it would have been crushed then, right?"

"We had enemies, who tried to destroy them in the past, though..." Izzy added for consideration, "And all of them failed miserably. It's possible that they can't be destroyed like that."

"You mean..." Gatomon asked, an expression of true horror on her face.

"It – it might just be her Digivice, there..."

Gatomon turned away from the others. She stared off into the distance, completely speechless, about Izzy's proposition.

TK sat down in the sand, did essentially the same. Patamon flew next to them, helplessly looking from Gatomon to TK and back again.

"Oh, never mind." Izzy said suddenly, "I just checked my e-mails, she sent me one a few minutes ago. Sounds like she really is at that place. She says she's fine, though."

"Izzy you fucking _dick!_" Gatomon yelled absolutely furious, "What the hell was that shit about?!"

"Be more specific"

"_'I think she might be dead, guys - oh, never mind! Guess I should have checked my e-mails beforehand!'_" she shouted while wiping her eyes, "You fucking asshole! Don't you _ever _pull that bullcrap again!"

"_Fine_..." Izzy growled, "Tell you what, next time one of my friends is presumed dead, I'll be sure to grasp at straws faster. How does that sound?"

"Fucking brilliant, I'm on board!" Gatomon said, before clearing her throat, to cover up a sniffle, "Now, can you just find a way to send us in there?"

"Without crushing us..." TK added anxiously, "...Please..."

"I'm working on it as we speak, now can you do me a favor and only talk when absolutely necessary? I wanna focus, so I can figure this out quickly."

The trio remained mostly silent while Izzy ran tests, which meant he was trying to send multiple rocks to the clipboard, while asking Kari for feedback via e-mail. Save for an incident were TK tried to sit down on a rock which was just getting cut from existence, his experiment went uneventful, for minutes on end. Izzy himself was barely talking in the process, only giving brief updates now and again (Mostly saying "No" or "That didn't work").

After fifteen agonizing minutes, Izzy finally had a breakthrough:

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"Did it work?" everyone asked in unison.

"No, I'm just fucking with you - of course it did. Kari just wrote me that a big rock appeared in a tunnel nearby."

"Great!" TK said, standing up, "Then let's go, send us in."

"Slow down, just because I was able to send a rock in there without pulverizing it, doesn't mean, I can send you in there without killing you. Ideally I would send a living test subject in there first. You don't see any other Digimon around, do you?"

The crew looked around. Then, shrugging slowly, Gatomon said:

"_I mean_... I know two guys nearby who might be willing to help... with a little encouragement"

"You mean, the two you just talked to?" TK asked suspicious.

"Oh, come on! It's perfect! Might as well take advantage of the situation!"

"You wanna interrogate them some more, and threaten to literally send 'em to hell?"

"Oh, don't be a bitch about it!"

"Guys, I'm gonna cut this short" Izzy sighed, "I'm not even too sure, whether I wanna send you in there, at all."

"But we gotta get her outta there!" Gatomon protested.

"Even if it's gonna work out, and you guys survive going in, there's no way for me to tell, if I can get any of you out again."

"But -" TK began, but Izzy cut him short:

"If I send you in I might risk losing all of you at once!" he said stern, "We just can't take such a risk!"

"You mean..." Gatomon said in disbelief, "You wanna _abandon _her?"

"I'm not saying that!" Izzy insisted, "Of course I wanna find a way to bring her back! But it would be reckless to endanger any more of you... in the... process..."

"What is it?" Gatomon asked nervous.

"Her blip just started moving - fast..." Izzy said, "She's being chased, I guarantee it."

"Well, now we _have _to go in there!" TK argued.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Izzy exclaimed, "Maybe... no, we have no choice, she is definitely gonna die, if you don't go - FUCK!" he yelled, making the others jump, surprised about his sudden outburst.

"Look, we're gonna make it, okay Izzy?" TK said reassuring.

"I wish, I had your optimism..." Izzy mumbled, "Well, get ready then. Go just a little bit back towards the city, until I tell you to stop."

They followed Izzy's instructions and got into position.

"Alright, guys. Here goes nothing." Izzy said, taking a deep breath, "Write me an e-mail as soon as you get there. I'll figure out an exit-strategy in the meantime. Boy, I'm really not looking forward to killing you..."

"It will be fine" TK said soothingly.

"If you say so... Get ready!"

And again, everything went black for a split second, then the feeling of being slowly crushed - then they hit the floor. TK hit his back against a wall as they arrived.

Coughing, they slowly got back up.

Despite the fact that the experience wasn't nearly as bad as the first time, TK said:

"Fuck... still hurts like a bitch."

"Huh" Gatomon said mildly surprised, while TK wrote his e-mail to Izzy, "That was easy"

"Yeah, well" TK said closing his D-Terminal, "We still need to find Kari..."

"Right"

They looked around. They had ended up in a gray concrete tunnel. The tunnel was curved so they couldn't see its ends.

Wordlessly, they decided just to follow it in one direction. They had just walked a few moments, when they spotted the exit and someone sitting next to it, leaning against the wall. The person (or Digimon) had the appearance of a jester. He was holding a small cup, making him appear like he was a beggar.

"Creepy..." Gatomon muttered.

"Still let's ask him if he has seen her" TK suggested.

"Alright"

"Um, hello?" TK called out.

The man turned his head. As they drew closer TK suddenly stopped as he recognized him; That wasn't a man. It was a Digimon. And not one, any of them was happy to see.

The jester wore a mask, black on the right half and white on the other, with a red heart on the brow, and a vertical cut across the eye hole, on the latter half. His hair was tied back in a straight bundle, and looked more chaotic and unraveled than usual. Although its orange color was completely absent. But that was true for everything in this realm; his usually crimson colored jacket, with puffs at his shoulders, each graced by the image of a black, spades shaped skull, was now gray dirty and partially tattered. As were the white frills and collar, which gave him a rather aristocratic appearance. His usually green pants and over-sized, yellow boots had suffered a similar fate.

It was Piedmon.

"Holy shit..." TK muttered under his breath.

"What do you want?" Piedmon asked, with his raspy voice. He sounded just as jaded and broken, as he looked.

"Um..." TK began nervously, "Uh, you know what, we'll figure it out. It's cool!"

"You are..." Piedmon said, slowly standing up, "A human... _here?_"

He took a step toward them.

"How..."

Another step.

"...unusual."

The trio slowly backed off.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" TK hissed without moving his lips.

"I don't know!" Gatomon hissed back.

"Wait..." Piedmon said, looking at Gatomon, then Patamon, and finally (eyes squinted) at TK, "No _way..._"

An insane looking smile formed on Piedmon's face.

"Yeah, we just got turned around, so..." TK said awkwardly, "We'll be on our way"

"Ooooh... You are going nowhere..." the clown said, his voice shaking with excitement, "You are the kids, who got me stuck here... _aren't you?_"

Piedmon reached over his shoulder to grab a dagger from an x-shaped hilt, storing a total of four daggers, one on each end, respectively.

Even Gatomon, who normally would have not taken kindly to be called a kid, swallowed audibly.

"Well, technically _he_ did" TK said shaking, pointing at Patamon.

"Hey, don't throw me under the bus, like that!" Patamon said frightened.

"Fuck! Sorry, I panicked, okay?"

"What is wrong with you?" Gatomon asked, "You idiots just confirmed our identities!"

"_Oh_, no need for confirmation" Piedmon said, and cackled in pure sadistic joy, "Well, what do you know? I thought I'd never have fun again - _But here we are!_"

His laughter echoed in the tunnel.

Patamon and TK now backed off, cowering behind Gatomon.

"What are you hiding behind me for?" Gatomon asked, "What the hell am I supposed to do against a _fucking Mega-level!_"

Piedmon's high-pitched laughter grew even louder.

"_AH, YOU'RE GONNA PAY!_" he exclaimed, as he closed in on them, his facial features distorted by sheer insanity, "_ALL _OF YOU!"

But suddenly, another one of Piedmon's daggers, was drawn from the lower left hilt.

The jester screamed in agony as his own weapon got thrusted into his back, and pierced all the way through his chest. He struggled to look over his shoulder at his attacker; it was a shadowy creature, looking just like a silhouette, with round glowing red eyes and slender limbs.

The being pushed the dagger deeper through Piedmon's chest and Mega-level's legs gave way. The jester collapsed, and fell facedown to the floor.

"That was..." Patamon said stunned.

"Convenient?" Gatomon continued unsure.

"Anti-climactic?" TK suggested at the same time.

Their savior stepped closer and now, suddenly, they could make out his features: It was a Divermon - with a black spiral on their right arm.

"What an eyesore" he said, with a wheezing voice, passing by Piedmon and dropping the latter's dagger on the floor next to him.

He then walked towards the trio.

"Shit..." TK mumbled, "That's not good..."

Gatomon just got ready to defend her friends against him - when he walked right past them.

"W-wait!" TK said startled, "How the fuck did you do this? He is a freaking Mega-level!"

Divermon stopped.

"He is weak... ever since he encountered the Elder One..."

"The Elder One?" Gatomon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Our old god... he fought him... and was defeated... He left him as nothing but a shell of his former self... But he kept disturbing the peace... It had to be done..."

TK, Gatomon and Patamon exchanged a quick glance. They looked at Piedmon's lifeless body and then back at Divermon.

"Is he - _dead?_" TK asked uncertain.

"As a doornail" Divermon replied simply.

"But -" Gatomon said confused, "Shouldn't he like - explode or dissolve or something like that? Isn't that how it usually works?"

"You are from the Digital World, aren't you?" Divermon asked, "Yes, I heard stories... That's how it is there... Our old god is said to have come from beyond the veil, too"

"You keep calling him you _old_ god" Gatomon said, "Is he not around, anymore?"

"He is... but then the new god came... he enslaved us at first, with his black rings. But then we proved that we were worthy... and then he gave us these gifts" he said and raised the arm with the Evil Spiral, "An extension of his will. He gave us the opportunity to realize his wishes at all times... now we are no longer his slaves... but his agents..."

"Oh, really?" Gatomon said, obviously struggling, not to let her resentment show, "Can I have a look at that - uh... gift?"

Silently, Divermon extended his arm toward her - and Gatomon immediately destroyed the spiral with her Lightning-Paw.

"What?" Divermon said startled, and flinched, "What... I don't..."

"Yeah, you know what we call that?" Gatomon asked grumpy, "Mind-control. Ever noticed how your free will basically vaporizes as soon as this so called 'god' tells you to do his bidding? That guy isn't a god. He's a kid who managed to brainwash you!"

"I don't believe it..." Divermon said, "Is that why the savior was sent? But... you are not the one... none of you is..."

Gatomon shot TK a look. Then she asked Divermon:

"Okay, then who is that savior?"

* * *

Kari felt like the rock, that appeared out of nowhere in the tunnel, might as well have been representative for the massive load, that came off her mind, at that very moment. Izzy had found a way, the others could be send to her. That meant there was a way out. There just had to be. She immediately sent him a mail for confirmation.

Trembling she sat down outside the tunnel, hugging her knees, waiting for Izzy's response. The wait was agonizing. She wanted to close her eyes, cover her ears - but she couldn't. What if she wasn't alone?

At one point she thought, she saw movement in the water, but she couldn't tell. Involuntarily she started rocking back and forth slightly.

"Please..." she whispered, "Please, leave me alone…"

She thought she heard voices, whispering to her, like before, and suppressed the urge to cover her ears again.

She saw something in the tunnel, out of the corner of her eye. She took a deep breath, mustering all of her courage to look.

She screamed when she saw, what it was, clearly: Two glowing red eyes staring at her from the shadows.

She stumbled onto her feet and ran away from the tunnel.

"Oh, god! Please don't! No, _please don't!_"

She ran across the beach, but there was a row of large rocks blocking her way. She was trapped.

The only way out was...

"No..." she said panting, both from the sprint across the beach, and her rising panic.

… the water.

She wanted to get as far away from here, as possible.

She looked back.

First she saw the lighthouse from her nightmares, not exactly helping to put her at ease. Next she saw, that the creature behind her had made its way out of the tunnel. It was a Divermon with an Evil Spiral on their arm.

That didn't help, either. She wouldn't be able to defend herself against an Ultimate.

Frantically she looked for other escape routes when the Divermon suddenly reached out to her:

"Please, wait!"

She stopped and looked at him. Even through the red glow in his eyes, thanks to the spiral, she could see the plea for help, they were expressing.

She stood still waiting for him to approach, although her knees were shaking so heavily, she feared she couldn't stand up for much longer.

She tried to say something, but no sound would escape her mouth.

"You... you are the savior" Divermon said, "Aren't you?"

"I..."

"Please..."

He came to a stop right in front of her, and stretched out the arm with the spiral.

Kari understood.

"I... I don't know if I can help you with this..." she said shaky.

"Please..." Divermon repeated desperate.

She needed to do something. She wanted to help him.

She took a step closer. Hesitantly, she touched the spiral.

And just as she did so, she noticed a light below her. She looked down, and saw it shining, from her chest, right from where her heart was racing, right now.

She didn't know what it meant, but she grabbed the spiral, now with growing confidence, and suddenly her hands started emitting the same pure, white light. And just like that, the spiral loosened, giving her the chance to pull it off his arm with ease.

She held it in her hands for a moment, looking at it with a frown. Then she dropped it.

She looked up to see that the Divermon's eyes had returned to normal. Relieved, she sighed, and even managed to smile at him, if only weakly.

"You _are _the savior!" the Divermon exclaimed.

"I... I mean..." she said nervously, blushing slightly.

"My friends!" he suddenly announced loudly, towards the water, "I was right! The true savior has arrived!"

"No – please, that's not…" she said unnerved.

She turned to look; Slowly, a large group of Divermon emerged from the water, approaching them. Fifteen or even twenty of them. All of them with glowing red eyes.

"Oh, boy..." she whispered, "That's a lot of spirals..."

"Heretic!" one of them called out, pointing at the Divermon, she had just saved, "How dare he, defy the will of our new god!"

"He has deceived us!" Divermon said standing tall against the rest of them, "These gifts were all for oppression! He is manipulating us, controlling us! Only now, I am able to think clearly for myself again! Free yourselves from his chains, my brothers!"

"We need to make an example out of him!" another Divermon shouted.

"Wai- _Wait!_" Kari managed to call out, "He is right! I know, who gave you those spirals! He is no god! He is only using you!"

"She is godless, too!"

"No! Please..." she said, and her hands and chest started to glow again, "Let me help you..."

A hushed mumble swept through the crowd. They hesitated at first, but one by one, the Divermon who had not spoken up, stepped out of the water and approached her.

"Don't listen to her!" one of the skeptics said, "She is spreading lies about our true god!"

"He is the one, who spread lies!" Divermon countered, "Our minds have been clouded for too long!"

And so, Kari started to free the ones, willing to listen to her. As the group of clear minded Divermon grew, more and more started to join in - even the skeptics were slowly swayed.

"No..." the last of the nay-sayers said in disbelief, "She is brainwashing you! Can't you see? Brothers, come back to me!"

But they turned their backs to him, walking into the light.

"Yes..." Divermon said, "We had been brainwashed... Wake up, brother. Please. Accept the truth!"

The last Divermon stared at them.

"You are all doomed..." he said grim, before turning around and retreating into the blackened ocean.

"That is so OP" a familiar voice said loudly.

Kari spun around.

It was TK. He had just arrived at the scene, together with Gatomon, Patamon and apparently, yet another Divermon. This one was already freed from the Evil Spiral, though.

"Oh, thank god!" Kari exclaimed, and ran to her friends.

She hugged TK tightly.

"I'm so glad to see you guys!" she sobbed.

"It's okay" TK said somewhat awkwardly, patting her back, "We'll get you out of here"

She released him and gave Gatomon an equally big hug.

"Thank you!" she sniffled.

"Well, we're not save, yet" Gatomon pointed out, when Kari released her.

"Izzy is working on an exit strategy, though." TK said quickly, to reassure her.

"Don't leave!" one of the Divermon said.

Kari turned around to reply to them - and froze.

The Divermon had turned into black shapes, shadows with slender arms and legs, and each of them with a pair of round expressionless eyes, emitting a white glow, and lacking pupils.

"So, I didn't imagine that!" TK exclaimed, pointing at them, "You're no Digimon! You're some weird shadow-demons!"

"TK, I'm not sure, that'll help..." Gatomon said.

"Please..." one of the creature said, "Look at us..."

"I'm looking" Kari said shocked.

"You can see... just how lost we are... without your guiding light! We are begging you! Stay with us! Become our bride. Our new goddess!"

In shock, the group stared at the crowd in front of them.

Then TK spoke up:

"Okay, seriously, Kari: I'm starting to see a pattern here."

"Please understand..." one of the shapes said, "We can't just let you leave..."

They closed in on them, but Gatomon stepped between them and her friends:

"Don't you fucking dare! You better back off nice and easy, back into that black shit water, and back to your shitty old god, or else -"

"_Heresy!_" one of the figures called out.

"How could she?"

"Who does she think she is?"

"_...insults the Elder One!_"

All of them talked over each other, so Gatomon used that chance; She looked up to TK and Kari, with what appeared to be a look of shock and horror – In reality it was her, suppressing the largest grin, ever to try and spread across her face. Quietly, under the cover of the commotion, she told her friends her plan:

"_Guys, I think I got this..._" she said, holding back laughter, her eyes watering from the intense stress, her face was under, "_Trust me on this one!_ Find an exit with Izzy._ I think, I can stall them for hours!_"

TK and Kari nodded and hurried over to the tunnel for cover.

"Okay, hopefully she can buy us some time" TK said on edge, as they reached the tunnel, "Izzy is working on it. I'm sure he'll get us out of here in -"

The rock Izzy had placed in the tunnel crumbled to dust.

"- no time..." TK finished taken aback, "I'll better write him, that that one didn't work..." he added with a sigh.

Kari got anxious again. She forced herself to take deep breaths, and sat down in the sand.

"Stay strong" TK said soothing, although he sounded only half-convinced himself, "It's just trial and error. He'll find us an exit soon"

But after half an hour, TK was pacing around in front of the tunnel While Kari sat next to him, hugging her legs again. Gatomon was still talking to the shadow creatures. They yelled at her from time to time, but she kept them in check, somehow – Even despite the fact that she was low-key mocking them.

"Well, that's what I'm saying" she said in a matter-of-fact tone, "if his whole shtick is just to terrorize you guys, then why worship him, in the first place?"

"Just _listen_ to her!" one of the creatures exclaimed, in disgust, "We are wasting our time! She knows _nothing_ about faith!"

"It is not a waste of time..." another one said, "I am sure, she can still be redeemed..."

"Right... Okay, guys!" Gatomon announced loudly to the crowd, "Just give me one second, I need to talk to my friends for a bit. Won't be a minute!"

Gatomon hurried over to them.

"Guys, I think things could get messy at this rate." she explained.

"Seriously?" TK scoffed, "They _don't_ like you?"

"Just shut up and get Angemon ready. You know just in case."

"Because, that'll send the right message..." TK muttered.

"Just to keep things civil, how does that sound?"

"Fine, Patamon let's go into the tunnel for this - and - try not to say anything. We better don't piss 'em off... any _more..._"

"Okay!" Patamon said and followed him.

"I'll..." Kari said timidly, "I'll stay here, I... don't wanna go in there..."

"Okay, sure!" TK said, hurrying inside.

But a few minutes later, TK returned - with Pegasusmon.

"It doesn't work!" he growled, "Looks like we're blocked here, too... I hope Pegasusmon will do..."

"Wait a minute..." Kari said, as something dawned on her, "If Pegasusmon works, that probably means, there's a tower nearby! He must have built one when he enslaved them!"

"Sure" TK said, "But – where? I haven't seen one..."

"That lighthouse... I know it's a long shot, but -"

"Are you kidding?" TK asked, "The light coming from that thing is black! It's worth a shot"

Pegasusmon nodded and shot out of the tunnel and to the lighthouse. Without hesitation he shot multiple shooting stars at it. The first few shots destroyed a large portion of its facade, exposing the black core underneath - Kari was right.

"GUYS!" Gatomon shouted, "The natives are getting restless! _Hurry up!_"

"_Godless traitors!_" one of the creatures shouted.

But just a moment later the tower collapsed, under the pressure of Pegasusmon's bombardment.

"_Back off, freak!_" Gatomon shouted, hitting one of them. He fell to the floor and didn't get up again.

Then suddenly, a golden ray of light cut through the remaining crowd, killing (or at least incapacitating) five or six of them - Angemon had joined the struggle.

"You will pay for this..." one of the creatures threatened, as the rest of them decided to slowly retreat into the water.

"Oh, yeah?" Gatomon asked challenging, "Try and make us pay! _Go ahead!_"

"The Elder One was right..." the creature said, slipping into the water, "We should have never doubted... our god."

The rest of them disappeared below the surface.

"Huh..." Gatomon said relaxing in her stands, "That was easier then expected. I can see why these pushovers would disguise themselves as Ultimates."

She walked by the shadow-figure she had taken out and spat on them.

"Oh! Perfect timing!" TK said, with a satisfied smile, looking at his D-Terminal, "Got a mail from Izzy!"

But when he read it his smile slowly began to fade.

"That's it, huh?" Kari asked and tears ran down her cheeks, "We're gonna die here, right?"

"Kari, stop -"

"We don't have food, we don't have water" Kari cried, "Who knows how long it will take Izzy to find a way out - if there even is one!"

"I mean..." TK said, "If times are tough, we could always eat Piedmon..."

Kari looked up.

"_What?_" she asked completely baffled.

"Never mind... long story..."

"You shouldn't have come to save me..." Kari said, now returning to being a crying mess, "We're all gonna die because of me! I'm so -"

"Kari, _stop it!_" TK said, grabbing her by the shoulders, looking straight into her eyes, "We're gonna make it! I don't know how, but we're gonna make it! We're _DigiDestined!_ It takes more than this bullshit to bury _us!_"

"TK..." Kari said wide eyed. But she wasn't looking into his eyes, she was looking at his chest: It was emitting a golden glow.

"What the..." TK said looking down, but there was more: his D3 was shining in pure white light. Almost instinctively, TK pointed it at Angemon.

"_Angemon digivolve to..._" the angel exclaimed, and transformed; his helmet was replaced with a taller, purple one, and he gained an equally purple armor plate for his left arm, big enough to cover its entire length. He now had silver armor plating and numerous golden accessories, with ancient runes engraved into them. One of them was a ring around his left wrist, with an attachment that included a dagger sized blade, that seemed to be made out of purple light or plasma.

"..._MagnaAngemon!_"

"Holy _shit!_" TK exclaimed, before jumping in the air from excitement.

"But..." Kari said uncertain, "How will that -"

"Piedmon!" TK said thrilled.

Gatomon shot him a confused look.

"Uh... that's not Pied- oh! I get it! I'm stupid..."

"What are you talking about?" Kari asked confused.

"Piedmon is here!" TK explained, "MagnaAngemon send him here! This is our way out!"

"Oh my god!" Kari said, and her eyes lit up, "Wait - _Piedmon is here?!_" she added frightened.

"Well, he's dead now, so..."

"Wait, what?"

"We'll explain later" Gatomon said, "Let's just get out of here!"

"You heard her, MagnaAngemon!" TK said, "Open up!"

"Roger that!"

MagnaAngemon used his plasma-blade to draw a perfect circle, slightly bigger than himself. That circle quickly turned into a golden ring, engraved with ancient runes, surrounding a silver gate. The gate opened and revealed a purple glow inside. Once opened, the gate began sucking everything in its surroundings inside. They briefly exchanged a look, took a deep breath and let themselves get pulled in.

It was like passing through a layer of water, however they remained dry as a bone. The trip was over in an instance, and they fell, pretty much four feet, until they landed rather softly in the sand below.

"Are we back?" Gatomon asked, when she got back up.

"Only one way to find out" TK said and pressed a button on his D3 twice in quick succession.

They heard a soft beep.

"Izzy?" TK asked tense.

"Oh, thank _fuck!_" Izzy exclaimed, more relieved than they had ever heard him be.

"Yup" TK said, "Sounds like we're back to me."

* * *

"So, the Dark Masters are finally dead, huh?" Izzy asked, back in the lab, as they told him what had happened at the Dark Ocean, and subsequently of Piedmon's demise, "Only took us three years... By the way, I would have preferred if, you guys had talked to me before you let yourselves get sucked into MagnaAngemon's gate."

"What, with e-mails?" TK asked bewildered, "Then we would have been stuck there for at least a week!"

Izzy sighed:

"Point taken... still, it was a huge gamble. Who knows where you could have ended up, instead. Could have been an empty void or a death zone, if you start from there..."

"Well, it wasn't" TK said defiantly, "So who cares - Kari are you okay?"

Kari who had spent the time, TK used, to tell their story, silently regaining her composure, had suddenly burst into tears.

She rushed towards the boys and pulled them into a group hug.

"_Thank you both!_" she sobbed, "_Thank you so much!_"

"Don't mention it..." TK said hugging her back, and even Izzy patted her back with a mild smile.

"Man, good thing we had MagnaAngemon this time" Gatomon sighed, as they went to leave the room, a few minutes later, "How about, we go straight to Ultimate next time, there's no towers around?"

"Yeah..." TK said exchanging a quick meaningful look with both Kari and Izzy, "We should do that – hey, can I catch up with you guys? I wanna talk to Izzy for a second. Patamon can you go with them? Kari looks like she needs all the company, she can get."

"Sure!" Patamon said smiling.

They awkwardly waved them goodbye, as they left the room. As soon as the door closed TK turned to Izzy and hissed:

"How the hell did that happen? How did he evolve like that?"

"I don't know!" Izzy hissed back, "Your guess is as good as mine!"

"Since when is that your go to answer?"

"Look lately things make even less sense than three years ago – never thought I'd say that... I don't know what to think anymore!"

They stood there in silence for a moment, reviewing what had happened at that ocean.

Suddenly TK's eyes lit up:

"Wait, you don't think -"

Their eyes met and all over sudden they spoke in unison, vocalizing the same thought:

"The other crests!" Izzy said.

"Gennai was bullshitting us!" TK said.

Close.

They repeated the progress with new thoughts

"Yeah, guess that's a real possibility..." Izzy said cynically.

"What other – Oh!" TK said, confused at first, but ultimately he got it, "You're right I _was _being hopeful... but it looked like Kari's activated too, when she helped those... things... why would she still have the one she originally got?"

"Look, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the whole crest thing, in general... Which isn't helped by the fact, that lately Gennai never _ever_ replies to me!"

"But hey: looks like we can reach Ultimate again! That's fucking awesome!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Izzy slowed him down, "We can test it once the opportunity arises, but things seem to work so wildly different at the Dark Ocean, I wouldn't be shocked if they worked there exclusively."

"Yeah... damn..."

They fell silent again, for a few minutes. Then Izzy spoke up, slowly:

"This..."

"- Would have killed Tai"

"It really would have!" Izzy agreed nodding eagerly, "Across all of that? Three perfect opportunities for heart-attacks, minimum!"

"And I was wondering, why you didn't call him or anything" TK said shaking his head, "Good thinking, keeping him out of this!"

"Well, I – rarely experience _bad_ thinking… but I appreciate it. Now, let's just hope she isn't too traumatized, or else our cover might be blown…"

"Oh, shit! You're right!"

"Eh, don't worry about it too much. Gatomon is with her, after all."

"What, you think _she _would be a good trauma therapist?"

"Not at all! However, I do believe, she could get some very convincing fake smiles out of her."

* * *

The Emperor gritted his teeth.

His spirals lay scattered all across the beach, some of them being washed ashore by the black waves.

A distant rumble caught his attention. A massive creature rose from the depths in the distance, dwarfing an island nearby. The being had massive wings like a dragon, and numerous tentacles grew from its head and its limbs were made up of them. The monster was silhouetted against the setting silver sun. But its red eyes shone brightly contrasting the black mass of its body.

The Elder One stared down the young boy.

The kid closed his eyes tightly – until the sound of the waves and the monsters growling was replaced with deafening silence.

He opened his eyes. He was back in his control room.

His right hand gripped his D3 tightly – trembling.

"Pull it together!" he whispered, before turning and storming out of the room.


End file.
